Mangaluru: The Ashwin Naik, from Mangaluru and Amittrajit Ghosh, from Kolkata, have taken the top position in the third round of the Indian National Rally Championship, held on the hilly terrain of Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday, November 4.
The champs were positioned at the 9th slot on Saturday, but overnight, they moved up to the 3rd slot and catapulted to the first position late on Sunday afternoon owing to the expert steering of Amittrajit and Ashwin’s excellent navigation. The duo was driving a Mahindra XUV.
The duo had won the European Rally Championship held in Greece earlier this year.
In a stroke of luck, the leader Gaurav Gill, pulled out of the competition due to an issue with his car on Saturday. This, combined with the expert rallying skills of Ghosh and Nayak, helped them make it to the top in Itanagar, the capital city of Arunachal Pradesh. The ace rallyists had been see-sawing between the second and third positions in sub-sections 5, 6 and 7, clocking an amazing time of 00:57:33.6.
They were 5.9 seconds faster than the team of Phalguna Urs and Srikanth that came in second. The Snap Racing pair, who were hot on Gill’s tail all of Saturday, didn’t have a fruitful second day, managing to secure only the fourth and fifth places in the stages.
Phalguna’s drive was good enough to earn his team the second position. Former champion Karna Kadur (with PVS Murthy) made a valiant charge, taking the second place in SS6 and winning SS7, but that could only fetch him the runner’s-up trophy.
Recounting the gruelling drive through the misty mountains, river fringes and dense forests of one of the seven sisters of the North Eastern states, Amittrajit said, “Taking the ninth position at the beginning of the rally was bearing on us heavily. It was due to a technical issue, but Ashwin and I kept pushing until we managed to bounce back to the pole position.”
On Sunday, the duo lost time as they had to change tyres to adapt to the wet roads, but the track dried up by the time they were ready to hit the road. “Gaurav Gill pulling out of the race might have worked for the duo, but Gaurav will be back with a new resolve in the next two rounds of the Indian National Rally Championship, he is a tough competitor, but we have decided to give him a tough run,” Ashwin Nayak said.
RESULTS:
INRC
1. Amittrajit Ghosh | Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure; 00:57:33.6)
2. Phalguna Urs | Srikanth (Snap Racing; 00:57:39.5)
3. Dean Mascarenhas | Shruptha Padival (Team Champions; 00:57:57.7)
INRC 1
1. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure; 00:57:33.6)
2. Lokesh Gowda / Venu Ramesh Kumar (Team Champions; 01:07:20.8)
INRC 2
1. Phalguna Urs / Srikanth (Snap Racing; 00:57:39.5)
2. Karna Kadur / PVS Murthy (Arka Motorsports; 00:58:37.0)
3. Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Y Bhatt (Arka Motorsports; 00:58:55.2)
INRC 3
1. Dean Mascarenhas / Shruptha Padival (Team Champions; 00:57:57.7)
2. Aroor Vikram Rao / Somayya AG (Falkon Motorsports; 01:05:17.0)
3. Phurpa Tsering / Chow Tiktha (Phurpa Tsering; 01:14:57.9)
FMSCI 2WD CUP
1. Adith KC / Arjun SSB (Team Champions; 01:01:20.0)
2. Rakshith Iyer / Sagar Mallappa (Rakshith Iyer; 01:10:54.4)
