Chennai, Apr 17 (PTI) Returning to rally action after a year’s break, Gaurav Gill showed no sign of rust as he put in a dominating performance to top the time sheets at the 49th South India Rally here on Friday.
The three-day event is also the second round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Round one of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.
The 44-year-old Delhi-based Gill, a three times APRC champion and winner of seven National titles, clocked a combined time of two minutes, 51.5 seconds for the two loops of 1.45 kms dirt Super Special Stage piloting a Volkswagen Polo to finish 5.1 seconds ahead of his arch rival Karna Kadur in the APRC segment with Mangaluru’s Jason Saldanha in third place.
Arjuna Award winner Gill also led the INRC with a 4.1 seconds advantage over local challenger Ritesh Rai, who is taking part for “some fun”, while Kadur is in third position.
Gill, with the experienced Srikanth Gowda (Chikkamagaluru) as his co-driver for the first time, gave a near-flawless exhibition of pace, precision and car control at the Madras International Circuit and looked in good space going into Saturday’s Special Stages.
“It was a good start and very happy to get back to rallying which is what I love. My team, R-Tech, did a great job in getting the car ready in just three days due to delay in getting spares and also in my decision to take part. It is the first time I am driving a Polo competitively. Then, a new co-driver in Srikanth (in his 36th season) but whose experience will also help over the next two days,” said Gill.
A disappointed Kadur said some “gremlins” cost him fractions.
“We had a restart to begin with; then my co-driver’s (Kumar Ramaswamy, Coimbatore) watch stopped and I had to reset my watch. Later, there was no intercom. So, not the start I was looking for with all these gremlins. Anyway, there is still a long way to go in this rally and hopefully, we will be able to do better,” said the former National champion.
Bengaluru’s Arun Y Mavaji and Arvind Dheerendra topped the INRC 2 and INRC 3 classes, respectively, while Tarushi Vikram (Chikkamagaluru) was the fastest in the Ladies class and also in the Junior INRC category.
Former Andhra legislator Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan and High Court Advocate, Hyderabad, K Jyothi Prasad, flagged off the event. PTI APS APS APA APA
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