Popular Rally 2018

Gaurav Gill seals the 2018 INRC title after win at Popular Rally

Six-time champion! Yes, that’s Gaurav Gill’s INRC championship tally after he secured an amazing Popular Rally win that recently took place in God’s own country, Kerala. The rally was part of the INRC and the final round of the season. It was an important rally not only because of it being the championship decider but also for motorsport in Kerala. The Popular Rally made a comeback and made it to the INRC calendar after a really long gap and the fans were more than excited.

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The Results

Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif piloted their rally XUV through the fast and narrow tarmac stages in Kuttikanam, Idukki and eventually won seven stages, this and two second place stage finishes helped the Team Mahindra duo finish on top and clinch the title. Earlier, the duo were just a point ahead of their team-mates, Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik. Karna Kadur and co-driver, Nikhil Pai were also fighting for the title making it an interesting battle.

Gill stated that, “It was a difficult year for us, towards the end due to a mechanical issue which was beyond our control, Kochi was the most difficult, with narrow fast roads and broken tarmac. We had to push extra hard to stay ahead of the others”

Amiitrajit and Ashwin were leading the championship after the first four rounds but still couldn’t claim the title. The N-1 rule also (lowest points in a round does not count for the championship) meant that the duo entered the popular rally in second place and finished the championship in the same spot.

Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai, from Akra Motorsports’ claimed the third spot in the championship and were impressive throughout the season. Rally fans were entertained by Karna’s sideways action in his Polo rally car. The Bangalore duo did really well and actually claimed the INRC 2 title even before coming to Kerala during the previous round in Chikmagalur.

Local lad Younus Ilyas, driving his Race Concepts tuned Rally Cedia was however faster than Karna by just a few seconds in Kerala. He was fast through the stages in Kuttikanam and this helped him and co-driver Harish claim victory in the INRC 2 category and an impressive second, overall! Karna/Nikhil and Phalguna Urs/Srikanth finished behind the Kerala driver in second and third places respectively.

Sirish Chandran, editor, EVO magazine and a professional rally driver made a comeback by taking part in the INRC 1 category driving a VW Factory prepped R2 Polo. Sirish and co-driver Aniruddha were fast as expected. Sirish is tough to beat especially on tarmac and was only slower to Gaurav Gill, finishing in second place, ahead of Amittrajit Ghosh.

The INRC 3 and FMSCI 2WD cup was entertaining and saw some great action too. Dean Mascarenhas was quicker by a margin and finished on top. Vikram Gowda meanwhile, claimed victory in the FMSCI 2WD Cup.

POPULAR RALLY RESULTS:

OVERALL – INRC
1 Gaurav Gill | Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure; 01:29:58.9)
2 Younus Ilyas | Harish KN (Race Concepts Motorsport; 01:30:33.1)
3 Karna Kadur | Nikhil V Pai (Arka Motorsports; 01:30:54.4)

INRC 1

1 Gaurav Gill | Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure; 01:29:58.9)
2 Sirish Chandran | A A Ragnekar (Sirish Chandran; 01:31:17.1)
3 Amittrajit Ghosh | Ashwin Naik (Team Mahindra Adventure; 01:31:51.6)

INRC 2

1 Younus Ilyas | Harish KN (Race Concepts Motorsport; 01:30:33.1)
2 Karna Kadur | Nikhil Vittal Pai (Arka Motorsports; 01:30:54.4)
3 Phalguna Urs | Srikanth GM (Snap Racing; 01:33:00.4)

INRC 3

1 Dean Mascarenhas | Shruptha Padival (01:33:07.9)
2 Fabid Ahmer | Sanat G (Chettinad Sporting; 01:34:47.4)
3 Darius N Shroff | Shahid Salman (01:35:20.6)

FMSCI 2WD CUP

1 Vikram Gowda | Sudhundra B.G (Vikram Gowda; 01:39:08.9)
2 Suraj Thomas | Sob (Suraj Thomas; 01:40:57.8)
3 Lanusanen Pongener | Amrith (Amrith; 01:41:33.4)