Ghosh, Naik seal Overall INRC title

Kolkata-based Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik from Mangalore sealed the Overall title at the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) when they emerged champions in the IMG Karnataka-1000 here Sunday.

Enjoying a sizeable overnight lead, Ghosh concentrated on bringing his Group N-spec Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia to the finish in one piece and eventually finished first, one minute, 52.6 seconds clear of veteran Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt) who made one place over Prithvi Dominic (Pruthvi Sthal) who ended up third.

"I didn't really push today as I had a good overnight lead. There were no problems with my car. Obviously, I and Ashwin are happy to win the Overall title for the second year running," said Ghosh who has 156 points that put him beyond reach of other competitors with a round to spare.

Newly-crowned Asia Pacific Rally champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) driving a XUV 500 in the SUV class also clinched the title in his category besides being the fastest driver in the K-1000 Rally for which he received the Star of Karnataka award.

"I pushed hard today as I was also keeping an eye on Karamjit Singh (participating in the IRC class in a VW Polo R2). He was faster than me by six seconds in the first Stage that suited his car better than my XUV. But I made time in the other two stages that were tight and twisty," said the 31-year old Gill.

Emerging champion in the INRC 1600cc class was Arjun Rao (Satish Rajagopal) in a VW Polo as he pipped Phaliguna Urs and Anoop Kumar by just 1.4 seconds in a tight finish while Sirish Chandran (Nikhil Pai) of Slidways Industries came in third.

"I had some problems with my VW Polo almost throughout the event, but I managed to make time on Phalguna in today's first and second stages," said Rao.

Suhem MK (Jeevarathinam) held his overnight position to win in the Junior INRC class comfortably while Aroor Vikram Rao (Somayya AG) was second and Rohan Pawar (Arjun Mehta) of Slidways Industries third.

Meanwhile, former World Rally champion Karamjit Singh (Jagdev Singh) from Malaysia, driving a VW Polo (R2) for Slidways Industries, without brakes, still topped the IRC class. He was forced to drift a lot more through the corners to scrub the speed as he put in a memorable demonstration of his driving skills.

Provisional classifications:

INRC Overall: Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Cedia) 1 (1hr, 34mins, 46.6 secs); Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Cedia) 2 (01:36:39.2); Prithvi Dominic / Pruthvi Sthal (Cedia) 3 (01:36:55.1).

INRC 1600cc: 1. Arjun Rao / Satish Rajagopal (VW Polo) 01:37:36.0; Phalguna V Urs / Anoop Kumar DS (VW Polo) 3 (01:37:37.4); Sirish Chandran / Nikhil Pai (VW Polo, Slideways Industries) 3 (01:37:45.1).

JINRC: Suhem MK / J Jeevarathinam 1 (01:40:49.7); Aroor Vikram Rao / Somayya AG 2 (01:42:45.6); Rohan Pawar / Arjun Mehta (Slideways Industries) 3 (1:44:54.4).

SUV NRC: Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure Rally, XUV 500) 1 (01:30:56.3); Lohitt Urs / Bonnie Thomas (Mahindra Adventure Rally, XUV 500) 2 (01:35:24.5).

IRC: Karamjit Singh / Jagdev Singh (VW Polo R2, Slideways Industries) 1 (01:33:20.4); Sumit Panjabi / Prakhyath Shirole (Cedia) 3 (01:53:36.5).