Lohit Urs, in his maiden outing in a Mitsubishi Cedia drove away to victory at the Popular Rally held at Kochi. This is the 3rd round in the INRC. After not being able to finish in the first 2 rounds Lohith was elated with the win.
After gaining a huge one minute, 41 seconds lead over his teammate Arjun Rao Aroor after the first leg on Saturday night, Lohit took things easy in the final day’s two special stages at hilly Edamalayar. It was MRF’s first victory this season and Lohit’s fifth triumph in the National circuit.
Biju Antony & Uday Kumar, of Kochi, won the 1600 cc class, followed by Roopesh Kholay & Prajual Pai, and Sanket Shanbhag & Ramesh Shanbhag of Team Winspeed. In fact, the Shanbhags were running third overall yesterday and were holding the same position until the final stage of the rally, where they went off the road and lost time.
The 1400 cc class saw a new winner in Bonnie Thomas from Thodupuzha co-driven by Adhiraj Bhardhan,. Sujay & Bharath and Francis & Royce finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. In the Rally Star Cup, Den Thimmaiah & Dinesh finished on top, followed by Vikram Devadasan & Anoop Kumar, and Kaushik Shinde & Sulaiman Shaikh. The Gypsy Class was won by Sandeep Sharma & Rashid Raza, follwed by Surenda Babu & Nayeen, and Sanjay Agarwal & Elias Paarel.
FINAL RESULTS:
Overall:
1. Lohit V. Urs / Chandramouli (MRF, 1:15.18 secs)
2. Arjun Rao Aroor / Satish Rajagopal (MRF, 1:17.10)
3. Bonnie Thomas / Adhiraj Bardhan (1:21.41)
4. Biju Antony / Uday Kumar (1:21.52)
5. Den Thimmiah / Dinesh Sekhar (1:22.05).
2000cc N+: 1. Lohit Urs / Chandramouli (MRF).
1600cc N+: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor / Satish (MRF).
1600cc: 1. Biju Antony / Uday Kumar, 2. Rupesh Kholay / Prajval Pai, 3. Sanket Shanbhag / Ramesh Shanbhag.
1400cc: 1. Bonnie Thomas / Adhiraj, 2. S. Sujay / S.M.Bharath, 3. K.J. Francis/ K.Royce.
Gypsy class: 1. Sandeep Sharma / Rashid Raza, 2. Surendra Babu / Naveen, 3. Sanjay Agarwal / Elias Paarel.
Rally Star Cup: 1. Den Thimmiah / Dinesh Sekhar, 2. Vikram Devadasan / Anoop Kumar, 3. Kaushik Shinde / K.Sulaiman.
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