Vivek Phadnis. Chikmagalur

No matter what the terrain, Gaurav Singh Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) will not take his foot off the throttle. And with his usual aggressive self, he looks all set to retain the title in the Speed Indian National Rally Championship.
In the Coffee Day Rally of Chikmagalur here, the Team MRF driver set a blistering pace to take the lead after the first leg on Saturday. Though rain in the morning had rendered the stages slushy in places, the top cars from Team MRF and Red Rooster Racing cut their way through. Gill was fastest in all stages during the day, barring the fourth, where he had gearbox problems. His total time on the day was 48 minutes, 42 seconds.
"I was concerned in the first stage because it was very slushy. But I chose the right tyre and posted a good time," said Gill. "Throughout the day, I drove very comfortably but I had a gearbox problem on the last stage. So I slowed down a bit and did not push the car."
"I also had problems with the throttle position sensor and ended up with wasted fuel. We will try to rectify the problem."
"My approach on Sunday will be the same and I will not slow down. If I don't drive at the speed I am comfortable with, I will lose concentration."
Red Rooster Racing's Vikram Mathias (PVS Murthy) and MRF's Lohitt V Urs (Srikanth Gowda) shared the same time of 49:06.
Mathias had got a good time in the first stage but it was later found that the time was wrongly recorded. "My approach tomorrow would have been different if I had that time. There was no need to push with that good time," said Mathias.
RRR's Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik), who is second in the championship, had rotten luck. He went off the road twice on the day. MRF's Arjun Balu (BS Sujith Kumar) had stopped near the flying finish in the first stage of the day as his car suffered a punctured tyre. "I was trying to avoid hitting the car and went around but landed up in a ditch. In the third stage, a rock got stuck in the brakes and rendered it useless. I therefore ended up in a ditch," said Ghosh.
MRF also had some time troubles during the transport stage after the first stage of the day. "We were asked to check in five minutes late by the officials due to some obstruction. But that five minute delay was not applied to the other drivers," said the MRF rallyists. Mysore driver Urs ended up on the tail of Prithvi Dominic's car due to the delay imposed and had to trail him for about two kilometers.

Results (provisional unaudited, leg one):
Overall, 2000N+: 1. Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sherif (Team MRF) (48 min 42 secs); 2. Vikram Mathias/ PVS Murthy (Red Rooster Racing (49:06); 3. Lohitt V Urs/ Srikanth Gowda (Team MRF) (49:06).
1600cc: 1. Girijashankar Joshy/ Chandramouli M (53:45); 2. Joseph C Jos/ Royce Kizhakoodan (Team DDL) (54:18); 3. Rahul Kanthraj/ Vivek Bhatt (54:47).
1400cc: 1. Abhijeet N Pai/ Satvik GA (55:09); 2. Vikram Devadasan/ Nihkil Pai (55:25) 3. Deepak Chinnappa/ Chandrashekar M (56:43).
Rally Star Cup: 1. Balram CG/ Raghuram CG (56:52) 2. Phalguna Urs/ Anoop Kumar (57:51); 3. Karan AM/ Somaiah AG (58:11).
Gypsy: 1. Sandeep Sharma/ Anmol Rampal (55.50); 2. Kushwant Randhawa/ Ravindra MS (56.36); 3. Shafeeq Ur Rahman/ Ajith KP (58:10).



Tag: STAGE, DAY, TIME, MRF, TEAM, TEAM MRF, GOOD, RED ROOSTER, CAR, RED, ROOSTER, VIKRAM, RED ROOSTER RACING, MUSA SHERIF, PVS MURTHY,