Team Tata Motors dominate Spirit of Kalinga III, sweep the podium

Bhubaneswar, November 9: Team Tata Motors continued to dominate the 2014 Indian National TSD Rally Championship as they scored a 1-2-3 in the Pro Stock category in the Spirit of Kalinga III, the sixth round, here on Sunday.

Sourav Chatterjee and Ashoke Kumar Basu topped the Pro Stock class after garnering a total time penalty of three minutes, 47 seconds. Second were Rajiv Sarkar and Moulinath Ghosh (7:43). Bangalore’s two-time and defending champions Chidananda Murthy and BS Sujith Kumar, with a penalty of 10:51 minutes, finished third.

However, Murthy and Sujith Kumar, who had 106 points before this round, earned 18 points here and still continue to lead the Pro Stock championship table with 124 points. The duo had won four continuous rounds before this weekend’s event.

“It was unfortunate that we were unable to continue our winning form in Bhubaneswar. But, the good thing is what we are still leading the championship,” said Chidananda Murthy.

Sujith Kumar added: “This was a bit of a disappointment because we had a very good run till now. However, we will try to bounce back in the next round in Kolkata next weekend.”

In the Pro Expert class, Karthik Maruthi and Sankar Anand won. They were also the Overall winners. Team Tata Motors entries of Ganesh Moorthy and T Nagarajan and Ajgar Ali and Mohammad Musthafa finished second and third respectively. Ali-Musthafa still lead the championship with 111 points.

Results (top three):

Pro Stock: 1. Sourav Chatterjee/ Ashoke Kumar Basu (Team Tata Motors, 3:47 minutes); 2. Rajiv Sarkar/ Moulinath Ghosh (Team Tata Motors, 7:43 minutes); 3. Chidananda Murthy/ BS Sujith Kumar (Team Tata Motors, 10:51 minutes).

Pro Expert: 1. Karthik Maruthi/ Sankar Anand (00:50 seconds); 2. Ganesh Moorthy/ T Nagarajan (Team Tata Motors, 01:03 minutes); 3. Ajgar Ali/ Mohammad Musthafa (Team Tata Motors, 1:15 minutes).

Ends