Bhubaneshwar, Dec 11 (IANS): Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF sealed the overall title in the 2011 Indian National Rally Championship with a round to spare as the 30-year old Delhi-based driver won the inaugural Rally of Odisha here Sunday.
The victory put Gill 72 points ahead of his nearest rival and team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) and regained the National crown after a lapse of two seasons.
Also clinching the National title was Aniruddha Rangnekar (Anoop Kumar) who topped in the 1600cc class after finishing second behind Hanoosh Surapaneni (Ravindra Kumar) here.
With his third INRC crown in sight, Gill, driving the Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia (Group N+), ensured that he will survive the final day without a mishap, but despite the obvious caution, he still topped the time charts Sunday.
Gill took his tally to 172 points while Ghosh moved to 100 as he finished third overall behind Dr.Yogeshwar Gill (Jeevarathinam).
In the 2000cc (Group N) class, Karna Kadur (Somonnita Ghosh) took the lead in the championship stakes over veteran Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) despite his second place finish here.
Meanwhile, talented Mangalore teenager Dean Mascarenhas (Shruptha Padival), winner of the K-1000 rally in Bangalore earlier this year, chalked up his second success of the season by topping the 1400cc class (Star Cup).
Provisional results:
Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill/Musa Gill (Team MRF) 1 hour, 13 minutes, 02.5 seconds; 2. Dr Yogeshwar Gill/Jeevarathinam 01:19:20.8; 3. Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 01:19:33.8.
2000cc (Group N): 1. Dr Yogeshwar Gill/Jeevarathinam 01:19:20.8; 2. Karna Kadur/Somonnita Ghosh 01:20:25.9; 3. Dr Dhirendra Kumar/Honey Narulla 01:29:26.4.
1600cc: 1. Hanoosh Surapaneni/Ravindra Kumar 01:24:47.4; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar/Anoop Kumar 01:28:26.1; 3. Ajgar Ali/Debashis Ghosh 01:30:28.8.
Star Cup (1400cc): 1. Dean Mascerenhas/Shruptha Padival 01:22.08.2; 2. Vikram Rao Aroor/AG Somayya 01:22:58.6; 3. Karan AM/Shanmugha SM 01:24:15.6.
Gypsy Cup: 1. Shafeeq Ur Rehman/Ajith KP 01:28:10.7; 2. Sachin Singh/Sri Latha 01:37:44.1; 3. Sanjay Agarwal/Ramesh Kumar V 01:41:54.7.