Coimbatore: Team Mahindra Adventure scored a grand 1-2 in the MRF Rally of Coimbatore, Round 2 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2018, with Gaurav Gill and Amittrajit Ghosh proving to be a cut above the rest here today.

India’s ace rallyist Gill, along with co-driver Musa Sherif, romped home to victories in each of the stages over the weekend to outclass the field. He needed 1:14:30.1 to complete the five Special Stages, winning the round with a handsome margin of 1 min 1.1 seconds.

His teammate Amittrajit (with co-driver Ashwin Naik) was equally sharp all through the rally, not yielding the second position even once. He kept pace with Gill too, finishing just 10-15 seconds off him in almost all the stages.

FMSCI President Akbar Ebrahim claimed the third position in the INRC 1 category, proving that he hasn’t lost his touch even after nearly 25 years.

The 2016 INRC champion, Karna Kadur (with Nikhil V Pai), had to settle for the overall third position as all his efforts to upstage the leaders proved to be futile.

He managed to claim the INRC 2 category though, making it a 1-2 for Team Arka Motorsports too in this bunch.

His teammate Rahul Kanthraj (with Vivek Y Bhatt) took the second place while Phalghuna Urs (with Srikanth Gowda; Snap Racing) claimed the third place.

The INRC 3 category too didn’t see any change on the leader board, with Aroor Vikram Rao (with Anand Somayya; Falkon Motorsports) completing an easy win.

Suhem Kabeer (Jeevarathinam; Team Champions) and Chetan Shivram (with Rupesh Koley) clung on to the second and third positions on the podium with their smart driving.

Defending INRC 3 champion Dean Mascarenhas, who failed to finish the second stage on Day 1 and slid to the bottom of the table, made a valiant fightback today.

He even won SS5 and SS6 in his category, but that was only good enough to take him to the sixth place.

Results:

INRC: 1) Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure; 01:14:30.1);
2) Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure; 01:15:31.2);
3) Karna Kadur/Nikhil V Pai (Arka Motorsports; 01:16:24.8).

INRC 2: 1) Karna Kadur/Nikhil V Pai;
2) Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Y Bhatt (Arka Motorsports; 01:17:36.9);
3. Phalghuna Urs/Srikanth Gowda; Snap Racing; 01:17:40.7).

INRC 3: 1) Aroor Vikram Rao/Anand Somayya (Falkon Motorsports; 01:17:11.8);
2) Suhem Kabeer/Jeevarathinam (Team Champions; 01:17:48.8);
3. ChetanShivram/Rupesh Koley (01:17:58.

4) FMSCI 2WD: 1) Adith KC/Suraj K;
2) Suraj Thomas/Sob George;
3) Lokesh Gowda V | Venu Ramesh Kumar.