Gaurav Gill wins FIA-APRC (Asia Rally Cup) round

Gaurav Gill (l) and co-driver Aniruddha Rangnekar celebrate victory in the second round of the FIA-APRC (Asia Rally Cup) at MIC on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

India’s Gaurav Gill did just enough to clinch the second round of the FIA-Asia Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Rally Cup) at the Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) here on Sunday.

The South India Rally concluded with two of the four special stages being called off due to heavy overnight rains rendering the Madras International Circuit (MIC) track water-logged and unmotorable.

Gill had for the first time in his career partnered with Aniruddha Rangnekar.

Reflecting on his performance, Gill said: “I am very relieved as it was a mentally very taxing weekend. There were niggles with my car that went on forever, and I am happy to bring it back home safely.

“There were also extreme changes in conditions. One stage (MIC track) was bone dry and the other (Aavisa) slushy yesterday (Saturday), and today (Sunday) it was the other way around. I had a tough time negotiating it.

“As for the new co-driver, Aniruddha worked hard and was good considering it was his first time out with me. I was a bit nervous initially, but we settled down. Looking ahead, I will be getting back into the INRC this season and also plan to do the final round of the APRC in Indonesia later this year.”

Mangaluru’s Aroor Arjun Rao (Satish Rajagopal) took the overall title in the Blueband Sports FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship – his first win in seven years.

Provisional classifications: FIA-APRC (Asia Rally Cup): 1. Gaurav Gill & Aniruddha Rangnekar (1hr, 50mins, 23.0secs); 2. Mana Pornsiricherd & Thanyaphat Meenil (1:51:12.0); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik (1:58:44.0).

Overall INRC: 1. Aroor Arjun Rao & Satish Rajagopal (1:55:26.6); 2. Daraius Shroff & Shahid Salman (1:58:11.1); 3. Sheshank Jamwal & Aseem Sharma (1:58:30.1).

INRC-2: 1. Sahil Khanna & Harish K.N. Gowda (2:01:38.9); 2. Charen Chandran & Vignesh Mahalingam (2:15:29.4); 3. Harikrishan Wadia & B.K. Rishabh (2:16:53.8).

INRC-3: 1. Daraius Shroff & Shahid Salman (1:58:11.1); 2. Sheshank Jamwal & Aseem Sharma (1:58:30.1); 3. Vishakh Balachandran & Anil Abbas (1:59:29.8).

INRC-4: 1. Abhin Rai & D. Uday Kumar (2:04:48.5); 2. K.V. Dheeraj & Pramod Raman (2:07:51.2); 3. Arun Mohan & K.R. Rishikesh (2:45:44.9).

Junior INRC: 1. Arjun Rajiv & Rohit Gowda (2:00:13.2); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh & S.S.B. Arjun (2:00:50.6); 3. Jahaan Singh Gill & Suraj Keshava Prasad (2:01:04.9).

Ladies Cup (Open): 1. Pragathi Gowda & Trisha Alonkar (1:59:58.5); 2. Shivani Parmar & G. Sanath (2:20:12.4).

FMSCI Gypsy Challenge: 1. Samrat Yadav & Arvind Dheerendra (2:03:12.1); 2. Darshan Nachappa & Abhinav Ganapathy (2:09:35.8); 3. Baljinder Singh Dhillon & C.P. Goutham (2:15:26.4).