Thapar leaves field cold in Maharashtra rally

Veteran Samir Thapar (co-driver Gurinder Mann) put in a splendid performance in his Mitsubishi Evo X to top the time charts in the Overall and IRC class as the Mahindra Adventure Rally of Maharashtra, the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship commenced here Friday.

Thapar of Team JCT Rallying, clocked one minute, 36 seconds in winning the Spectator Special Stage that was run over a course of 2.03 Kms at the Dadasaheb Phalke Smarak.

Two seconds behind Thapar was Sirish Chandran (Nikhil Pai) of the Slideways Industries in a VW Polo while Team Yokohama's Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt), driving a Mitsubishi Cedia was third Overall one second adrift.

Kanthraj's team-mate Vikram Devadasen (Srikanth Gowda) in a VW Polo was fourth quickest at 01:39, ahead of 2013 Asia Pacific champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) of Mahindra Adventure, piloting a XUV 500 who clocked 01:41, the same as last year's National champion and team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik).

The real test of man and machine will be over the next two days when the competitors negotiate the Special Stages that will be run twice Saturday and a third time Sunday when the event concludes.

Provisional Classifications (Leg 1, Spectator Special Stage):

Overall IRC: Samir Thapar / Gurinder Mann (JCT Rallying, Evo X) 1 (01min, 36.0secs); Sirish Chandran / Nikhil Pai (Slideways Industries, VW Polo) 2 (01:38.0); Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia) 3 (01:39.0).

IRC: Thapar / Mann 1; Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 2 (01:41.0); Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure, XUV 500) 3 (01:41.0).

IRC 2000cc: Kanthraj / Bhatt 1; Byram Godrej / Somayya AG (Slideways Industries, VW Polo) 2 (01:41.0); Sumit Panjabi / Venu Ramesh Kumar (Cedia) 3 (01:45.0).

IRC 1600cc: Sirish Chandran / Nikhil Pai (Slidways Industries, VW Polo) 1 (01:38.0); Vikram Devadasen / Srikanth Gowda (Team Yokohama, VW Polo) 2 (01:40.0); Phalguna Urs / Anoop Kumar (VW Polo) 3 (01:41.0).

FMSCI 1600 Cup: Adith KC / Harish KN (Honda City V-Tec) 1 (01:45.0); Anirudha Ranganekar / Arjun Mehta (VW Polo) 2 (01:46.0); Parag Dhiwar / Aditya Dhiwar (Maruti Baleno) 3 (01:50.0).