Motorsports: Maruthi-Anand pair emerges champion

Erode pair of Karthick Maruthi and navigator Sankar Anand emerged overall champions in the MRF Chennai Rally, the ninth and concluding round of the FMSCI Indian National TSD Rally Championship, here Sunday.

Maruthi and Anand tied with Ajgar Ali (Kolkata) and Mohammad Musthafa (Erode), both pairs finishing with a penalty time of 46 seconds, resulting in employing a "tie-break".

Consequently, the Erode crew were adjudged winners on the basis of eight zero penalties over 25 Time Controls as against six by the other tandem.

In the process, Maruthi and Anand who trailed Ali and Musthafa by four points going into the event, clinched the championship by just three points.

The Erode crew picked up 25 points by winning the Chennai Rally to take their tally to 169 while Ali and Musthafa finished the season on 166.

In the Pro-Stock category, Saurav Chatterjee and Ashoke Kumar Basu from Kolkata, representing Team Tata Motors topped with a penalty of two minutes and 25 seconds, pipping National champions and team-mates Chidananda Murthy and Sujith Kumar BS (Bengaluru) of Tata Motors who returned two minutes and 46 seconds.

Murthy and Sujith Kumar ended the season on 192 points while Chatterjee and Basu finished second in the championship with 168 points.

Final classification:

Pro Expert: Karthick Maruthi / Sankar Anand 1 (00:00:46secs); Ajgar Ali / Mohammad Musthafa (Team Tata Morors) 2 (00:00:46); Srikanth GM / M Chandrasekar (Team Tata Motors) 3 (00:00:48).

Pro-Stock: Saurav Chatterjee / Ashok Kumar Basu (Tata Motors) 1 (00:02:25); Chidananda Murthy / Sujith Kumar BS (Tata Motors) 2 (00:02:43); Somashekar / Chandramouli (Tata Motors) 3 (00:09:42).