Pune, Nov 14 (IANS): Pune rally driver Sanjay Takale finished runner-up in the the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship after some unexpected results in the season-ending round in Longyou, China.

Takale took a gamble by skipping the China round and was amazed to realise that he actually finished overall second behind the eventual winner Michael Young of New Zealand in the Production Cup class.

“As I have always said unexpected happens in motorsport, but this was really unthinkable. I was only one point ahead of Mark Pedder of Australia, while Young was uncatchable, so there was no point in going to China,” explained Takale here Friday.

After the penultimate round in Hokkaido, Japan, Takale was on 125 points while Young had clinched the Production Cup title with 153 points and Pedder was on 124 after he had skipped the Japan round.

In the China round, Pedder crashed out after hitting a huge rock on the first day of rally. Consequently, Pedder failed to add even a single point to his tally of 124 and remained stuck in third position, leaving Takale to claim the runner-up position.

“What can I say? I hoped to settle for the third position, but to finish at No.2 will no doubt add some meat to my career highlights,” Takale said.