Gill, Sherif bag overall title in Indian Rally C’ship

Gill, the 33-year old Delhi-based 2013 Asia Pacific champion sealed his fifth Rally of Maharashtra title after the two concluding rounds of the Spectator Special Stage that were run on Sunday, winning by a margin of three minutes 59 seconds.

While Gill cruised to victory in the Rally, organised by the Western India Sports Association, the drive of the day came from <g data-gr-id="38">Mangaluru’s</g> Arjun Rao Aroor (co-driver Sathish Rajagopal) who, driving the Volkswagen Polo R2 made up a 10-second overnight deficit and <g data-gr-id="39">pipped</g> Mahindra Adventure’s Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) by just one second to finish second Overall.

Ghosh and <g data-gr-id="28">Aroor</g> were tied going into the final run of the Spectator Special Stage. “I just didn’t think how much time I had to make <g data-gr-id="27">up,</g> but drove the car to its limits. 

 “I am extremely happy that I managed to make one place to finish second,” said <g data-gr-id="24">Aroor</g>.

Gill was pleased as punch in scoring his 21st win with Sherif over the past eight years. “I just love the Rally of Maharashtra. 

The Special Stages are very technical and fast which suit my driving style. Obviously, it is great to start the domestic season on a winning note and we hope to carry forward the momentum,” said Gill.

Finishing behind the top three was <g data-gr-id="32">Mysuru’s</g> <g data-gr-id="33">Lohitt</g> Urs (Srikant Gowda) in a <g data-gr-id="34">Mitsubisihi</g> EVO VIII that arrived in Nashik barely hours before the Rally commenced on Friday. Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s Rahul Kanthraj and his co-driver of 15 seasons, Vivek Bhatt, driving a Mitsubishi Cedia for Team Yokohama, comfortably won the IRC 2000cc class where he faced little or no competition.

Topping the IRC 1600cc class was 21-year old Dean Mascarenas from Mangaluru and co-driver Sudipta <g data-gr-id="26">Padival</g> in a VW Polo.