India’s Gaurav Gill did just enough to win the second round of the FIA-Asia Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Rally Cup) here at Madras Motor Sports Club (MMSC) on Sunday.
The South India Rally ended with two of the four special stages being canceled due to heavy overnight rain, which left the Madras International Circuit (MIC) track waterlogged and impassable.
Gill had worked with Aniruddha Rangnekar for the first time in his career.
Regarding his performance, Gill said: “I’m very relieved as it’s been a very tough weekend mentally. There were issues with my car that lasted forever and I’m happy to get it home safely.
“There were also extreme changes in conditions. One stage (MIC track) was bone dry yesterday (Saturday) and the other (Aavisa) muddy, and today (Sunday) it was the other way around. I had a hard time negotiating it.
“As for the new co-driver, Aniruddha worked hard and did well considering it was his first time with me. I was a bit nervous at first, but we calmed down. Looking ahead, I will rejoin the INRC this season and also plan to compete in 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 standings: FIA-APRC (Asia Rally Cup): 1st Gaurav Gill & Aniruddha Rangnekar (1hr 50min 23.0sec); 2. Mana Pornsiricherd & Thanyaphat Meenil (1:51:12.0); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik (1:58:44.0).
INRC overall: 1st Aroor Arjun Rao & Satish Rajagopal (1:55:26.6); 2. Darius Shroff & Shahid Salman (1:58:11.1); 3. Sheshank Jamwal & Aseem Sharma (1:58:30.1).
INRC-2: 1. Sahil Khanna & Harish KN Gowda (2:01:38.9); 2. Charen Chandran & Vignesh Mahalingam (2:15:29.4); 3. Harikrishan Wadia & BK 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. KV Dheeraj & Pramod Raman (2:07:51.2); 3. Arun Mohan & KR Rishikesh (2:45:44.9).
Junior INRC: 1st Arjun Rajiv & Rohit Gowda (2:00:13.2); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh & SSB Arjun (2:00:50.6); 3. Jahaan Singh Gill & Suraj Keshava Prasad (2:01:04.9).
Women’s 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 & CP Goutham (2:15:26.4).
