Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Chikkamagaluru
Chikkamagaluru, Dec 12 (DHNS & Agencies): The three-day Coffee Day India Rally 2015, which doubles up as the concluding round of the FIA Asia Cup and the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship, began on a thrilling note at the Amber Valley School grounds, here on Friday December 11.
The event, also supported by Karnataka Tourism and Indian Oil, kicked-off with a ceremonial start at the Coffee Day Global premises on Thursday evening, followed by the hugely-popular Super Special Stage at the Amber Valley School grounds on Friday. The cars will then head out of town for the Special Stages on Saturday and Sunday.
The 180 km-long Asia Cup Rally which is also a contender event for a round of 2016 Asia Pacific Rally Championship, has attracted eight entries led by Mysuru’s Lohitt Urs with Srikanth Gowda of Mudigere as his co-driver in a Mitsubishi Evo VIII, and Arjun Rao Aroor of Mangaluru (co-driver Satish Rajagopal, Bengaluru) driving the Volkswagen Polo (R2B variant).
Team Mahindra Adventure duo of National champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) and Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) tied to head the Overall time charts in the Super Special Stage on day one.
The nearly 5,000-strong crowd was treated to some quality fare as Gill, the 2013 Asia Pacific Rally champion, and Ghosh swept all opposition, clocking two minutes, 43.7 seconds over the 2.28 circuit.
Behind the duo was Team Yokohama’s Karna Kadur (Vivek Ponnusamy) in a Volkswagen Polo who was third overall in 02:39.0 while the third Mahindra Adventure entry Sunny Sidhu (PV Srinivas Murthy) was placed fourth in 02:39.1.
In a huge surprise, favourite Lohitt Urs (Shrikant Gowda) in an Evo VIII, returned a time of 02:43.7 which though was the best in the Asia Cup field, placed him 13th in the Overall standings.
“I am happy that our team fared well today. I didn’t try anything fancy, but just wanted to finish the Super Special Stage without any drama. It is a good confidence booster ahead of the Special Stages tomorrow as it will be a challenge to compete against all-wheel drive, turbo-charged cars.
Hopefully, we will build on the early momentum and deliver a strong result,” said Gill.
Meanwhile, Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) of Team Yokohama topped the IRC 2000 class with 02:41.1 to strengthen his chances of clinching the championship in his category.
In the IRC 1600 class, Kadur enjoyed a one-second lead over Adith KC (Harish KN) who, however, led the FMSCI Cup 1600 category.
The action in the three-day event will shift to the Special Stages located in the nearby Coffee Day Global estates on Saturday. The event concludes on Sunday.
Provisional classification (Leg-1, Section 1): FIA Asia Cup: Lohitt Urs/ Shrikant Gowda (Pvt, Evo VIII), 1 (02mins, 43.7secs); Arjun Rao Aroor/ Satish Rajagopal (Team AR Racing, Volkswagen Polo R2B), 2 (02:54.7); Abhilash PG/ Rohan Rego (Team Rennoil R3A, Evo VIII), 3 (02:56.0).
IRC Overall: Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) and Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra, XUV 500), 1 (both 02:37.5); Karna Kadur/ Vivek Ponnusamy (Team Yokohama, VW Polo) 3 (02:39.0).
IRC 2000: Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia), 1 (02:41.1); Sumit Panjabi / Shahid Salman (Pvt, Cedia), 2 (02:41.7); Karan AM/ Suraj M (Pvt, VW Polo) 3.
IRC 1600: Karna Kadur / Vivek Ponnusamy (Team Yokohama, VW Polo) 1 (02:39.0); Adith KC / Harish KN (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 2 (02:40.1); Raghu Nandan B / Rupesh Kholay (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 3 (02:40.6).
FMSCI Cup 1600: Adith KC / Harish KN (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 1 (02:40.1); Raghu Nandan B / Rupesh Kholay (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 2 (02:40.6); Druva Chandrashekar / Jeevarathinam J (Pvt, Honda City V-tec) 3 (02:42.9).