Stage set for MRF Rally de Goa

The FMSCI Indian National TSD Rally Championship enters its crucial phase when the fifth round -- the MRF Rally de Goa -- will be run here Sunday with three crews tightly bunched at the top of the Overall standings.

Heading the leaderboard are S.K. Ajgar Ali and navigator M.K. Mohammed Musthafa with 71 points, followed by the pair of Karthick Maruthi and Sankar Anand (67) and Bangalore's husband-wife tandem of Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D'Souza (60).

Gopalkrishnan and D'Souza had begun well with two consecutive victories at the start of the nine-round championship but drew a blank in Bangalore where Ali-Musthafa topped while Maruthi-Anand took the honours in the fourth round at Coimbatore.

In the pro-Stock category, the lead pair of Tata Motors team, Bangalore's Chidananda Murthy and B.S. Sujith Kumar are comfortably perched at the top with 81 points having won three of the four rounds, well ahead of teammates Saurav Chatterjee and Ashoke Kumar Basu (64).

The event has attracted a total of 25 entries of which 12 will be contesting the National Championship while others are local challengers participating in various other classes.