| Commanding win for Gill at Maharashtra rally |
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Nashik, June 5 Team MRF's Gaurav Gill began the season with a bang as he hit top speeds of over 160 km per hour to comfortably win the Rally of Maharashtra, the first round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship, on the foothills of Sahyadri ranges, about 100 km from here today. The 29-year-old speed demon from Delhi led overall by 8.03 minutes. Gill, the reigning National champion and the current leader in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), for once had to play second fiddle to his experienced navigator Musa Sherif, who became the first co-driver in India to take part in 200 rallies with 61 different drivers and riders. In a career spanning over 19 years, the 39-year old from Kasargod, Kerala, was as modest as ever. "I had the pleasure of driving with some of the best drivers in the country and abroad. I have taken part in a wide variety of events, in both bikes and cars," he said and when queried what keeps him going, the talented pace-reader added, "I enjoy the sport and its only the passion that keeps me going." Gill was in his elements today and clocked the fastest time in the first special stage of the day but eased off later, heeding to his co-driver's calls, to allow teammates Lohit Urs and Amitrajit Ghosh set best stage times. “Although I had a twominute plus lead, I did not ease off and drove at my normal pace today because you tend to lose concentration and make mistakes at slow speeds,” said Gill. The only problem that Gill encountered was an electrical malfunction on the transport run back to the parc ferme on conclusion of the Stages, but he managed to nurse his car to the finish.
Lohit Urs with co-driver PV Srinivasa Murthy finished runners-up in the
overall and 2000 cc N+ category while Sirish Chandran, displayed much
better driving skills, to take the overall third position and first 2000
cc N class along with talented co-driver Nikhil Pai. In the battle for
the second place, Shailendra Hegde (co driver Prajwal Pai) edged out
Rahul Kantharaj and co-driver Vivek Bhat to third place in the 2000 N
category.Bangalore's Sanjay Agarwal (Jeeva Rathinam) topped in the Gypsy
class |
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