Rally of Hyderabad: Gaurav Gill clinches title, back on top in INRC standings

India's top rally driver Gaurav Gill displayed a high level of skills and admirable car control to emerge victorious in the Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2024, which concluded in Shamshabad, near here, on Sunday.

The only Arjuna Awardee in motorsports, Gill, along with co-driver Anirudha Rangnekar began the second day with a blistering run in the first stage, and the seven-time National champion, eased off to nurture the car with superb consistency thereafter and notched a well-deserving victory, the organisers informed in a release on Sunday.

“This is one of the hottest rallies and the terrain is treacherous. So, we were calm and consistent and that paid rich dividends. We had some new upgrades and new compounds and JK Tyre has been supporting me with a lot of faith and we are happy to get back a win in the middle of the year,” said a visibly happy Gill.

Former champion Chetan Shivram and co-driver E. Shivaprakash of A & A Motorsports took an admirable overall second, with two stage wins, and they also won their class, INRC2. Kerala’s ace driver, Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Milen George showed great resilience to grab an overall podium pipping a marauding Arka Motorsports pair, Karna Kadur and co-driver Musa Sherif, by a mere two seconds. However, Karna and Musa took the overall lead in the INRC 2024 championships with two more rallies to go.

Gurugram’s Arnav Pratap Singh and co-driver Rohit of Bengaluru won the INRC3 class and also came out on top in the Junior INRC. Anushriya Gulati of Dehradun with Karan Aukta as co-driver won the Ladies' class while the Chikmagalur-Bengaluru pair of Dr. Akarsh Sundar and co-driver Ravikumar won the gypsy class.

The husband-wife pair of Aneeshnath and Amitha Aneesh of A & A Motorsports won the FMSCI Classic Challenge Cup. “We are very happy to grab the victory in this tricky rally,” said the Bengaluru pair.

Out of the 55 that took the start, 12 cars failed to finish the race (logging a DNF) as the terrain proved treacherous for many drivers. The next rally will be in Coorg followed by season finale, the popular K-1000 at Tumkur, also in Karnataka.

Final results (Provisional):

INRC Overall:

1. Gaurav Gill (privateers, Delhi)/ Anirudha Rangnekar (Pune) (01 hour, 48 minutes, 18.7 seconds); 2. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (01:49:39.4); 3. Fabid Ahmer (Chettinad Sporting, Palakkad)/ Milen George (Kottayam) (01:51:06.1);

INRC2: 1. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (01:49:39.4); 2. Fabid Ahmer (Chettinad Sporting, Palakkad)/ Milen George (Kottayam) (01:51:06.1); 3. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (01:51:14.0);

INRC3: 1. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit (Bengaluru) (01:51:46.1); 2. Daraius Shroff (Chettinad Sporting, Mumbai)/ Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (01:51.59.4); 3. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay Padmashali (Both Bengaluru) (01:52:00.2);

Ladies Class: 1. Anushriya Gulati (Arka Motorsports, Dehradun)/ Karan Aukta (01:55:26.0); 2. Nikeetaa Takkale (Pvt, Pune)/ Arvind Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (01:58:23.3); 3. Phoebe Nongrum (Snap Racing, Shillong)/ KP Aravind (Bengaluru) (02:11:00.7);

Junior INRC: 1. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit N (Bengaluru) (01:51:46.1); 2. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay (Both Bengaluru) (01:52:00.2); 3. Abhin Rai (Ideal Racing)/ Moideen Jasheer (both Chikmagalur) (01:53:08.3);

Fmsci Classic Challenge: 1. Aneeshnath S (A & A Motorsports)/ Amitha Aneesh (Both Bengaluru) (02:03:48.0); 2. Shaik Hussain Pasha (Addons Motorsports, Hyderabad)/ Ashfaque Afrid (Sattupalli, AP) (02:30:43.9); 3. Praveen Dwarakanath (Pvt., Bengaluru). Arun V (Tirupur) (02:39:38.7);

Fmsci Gypsy Challenge: 1. Dr. Akarsh Sundar (Pvt., Chikmagalur)/ Ravi Kumar (Bengaluru) (02:02:51.2); 2. Baljinder Singh Dhillon (A & A Motorsports, Delhi)/ Goutham CP (Chikmagalur) (02:04:39.8); 3. Sachin Singh (Pvt., Hyderabad)/ Anand Raj (Erode) (02:05:47.5);