COIMBATORE: Chetan Shivram of Akshara Racing took full advantage of favourite Gaurav Gill’s misfortune, taking the lead in the Rally of Coimbatore, Round 2 of the Champions Yacht Club-FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship on Saturday.
Gill and his co-driver Musa Sherif were leading the charts when a flat tyre forced them to drop out. Shivram took the lead, posting a total time of 1:05:32.900 across five stages. Suhem Kabeer (co-driver: Jeeva Rathnam) was in second place. The JK-Tyre-supported Kabeer is a mere four seconds behind Shivram and is set for a mammoth battle on Sunday, for victory in the rally. Another JK Tyre racer Younus Ilyas is in third spot after winning the last two stages of the day.
An unusually high number of competitors dropped out of contention on day one of the rally, including favourite Gill. “After a continuous rainfall last night, it suddenly became sunny in the morning leading to the surface becoming really hard. There were stones all over the stages which made it difficult. I am obviously not happy with my current scenario but would say that I would take it as a learning experience and I will bounce back strong,” Gill said.
Even championship leader Dean Mascarenhas did not have the best of the days and is currently in 20th position. After a good start, Dean’s car got stuck in the slush and he lost a crucial four-odd minutes because of that. Those minutes lost makes it virtually impossible for him to push for a win on Sunday.