Coimbatore INRC: Gill storms to victory in first round

The Team Mahindra Adventure driver, who was fourth in the starting line-up, took the lead in the first stage itself.

With the tight and twisty stages not proving to be too much of a challenge for Gill, his typical aggressive driving ensured he finished the first stage in just 12 minutes and 11 seconds, 18 seconds ahead of the 24-car field.

Delhi’s Gill showed his class and won the four other stages of the day as well. The two-time Asia-Pacific champion kept increasing his lead by a minimum of 20 seconds in each stage to finish the 70-odd Km rally in one hour and thirty-six seconds.

Defending INRC champion from Arka Motorsports, Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai), finished second. The competitor from Bangalore finished 1m45s behind to take the second position.

Team Mahindra Adventure’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) grabbed the last place on the podium even though they had technical issues with the car.

Thirtyfive-year-old Gill was a pleased man. “It was a good win. I enjoy driving in Coimbatore. It’s always nice to start the season with a victory,” he said.

“It was a nice and smooth round, with no drama and no fuss.

“I particularly enjoyed the second stage where our skill and control came into play,” he added.

Kadur showed immense speed in his Volkswagen Polo but just couldn’t match Gill’s skill. However, Kadur topped the INRC 2 category.

Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt), who finished fifth overall, took the second position, cruising into the park ferme just three seconds later.

Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padival) claimed the honours in INRC 3, finishing fourth in the INRC pecking order.

Arjun Rao (Satish Rajgopal) pulled out in the first stage itself.

Five other teams joined Rao on the DNF list, with the heat playing a role.

Aroor Vikram (Somayya AG), in fact, had a bad crash and their car was almost burnt down. Luckily, both escaped without a scratch.