(Eds: Repeating after correction in intro)Bengaluru, Jan 21 (PTI) Mahindra Adventure's Gaurav Gillannexed his fifth MRF-FMSCI Indian National Rally Championshiptrophy as he sped away to a grand victory in the MRF 43rd K-1000 Rally, here today.
The three-time APRC champion underlined his class andcontrol once again, winning all the five special stageswithout having to look too much into his rearview mirror. Herecorded an overall timing of 00:55:41.6 minutes, almost threeminutes ahead of the second finisher, to take his final tallyto a perfect 100 points.
Gill, along with co-driver Musa Sherif (110 points), hasbeen unbeaten in the MRF INRC 2017, romping home in each ofthe four rounds that he had taken part in. He missed round 4,the Rally of Chikmagalur, as it coincided with his assault onthe APRC, but that didn't stop him from being crowned theundisputed king.
"It was a perfect day, a perfect finish for us," Gillsaid.
"The first couple of stages were slippery but we managedto handle them well; we controlled the rally thereafter," headded.
INRC 3 champion Dean Mascarenhas, despite rolling into aditch in the first Super Stage and falling behind by over 16minutes, managed to take the second place in the overallstandings.
Dean (and Shruptha Padival), who entered the sixth andfinal round with a slim outside chance of upsetting Gill,picked up a puncture in SS2 too but hung on to keep pace withthe rest of the field in the remaining stages.
But the initial meltdown meant that he finished eighth(3rd in his category) and could add only four points to hisfinal tally.
It didn't affect him in his category though, as he hadalready sealed the INRC 3 trophy in the last round itself.
Defending INRC champion Karna Kadur, however, tookadvantage of familiar home conditions to force his way to thethird position in the K-1000. It ensured him two podiumfinishes too, the second place in his INRC 2 category and thethird place in the overall Championship.
Arjun Rao finally showed his true class, taking thesecond place in the rally but he had to be content with asixth-place finish in the Championship.
As expected, Rahul Kanthraj claimed the INRC 2 trophy,despite finishing third (fourth overall) in his category. PTISSCSSC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.