The three Mitsubishi Evolution variants swept the time sheets with JCT Rallying’s Samir Thapar and co-driver Gurinder Singh Mann winning the Super Special Stage as the Coffee Day Rally commenced here on Friday.
While the huge crowd at the Amber Valley School grounds were disappointed when National champion Gaurav Gill retired barely 200 metres after the start with a broken drive shaft, Thapar along with Vikram Mathias provided much of the entertainment.
Thapar topped the charts with a 2:27.3, to finish ahead of former National champion Mathias who finished in 2:27.8 in the IRC class.
Topping the IRC 2000 class was young Karna Kadur in the Mitsubishi Cedia, with a time of 2:38.5, well clear of Team Yokohama’s Rahul Kanthraj.
Dean Mascarenhas, the 20-year old from Mangaluru, put in a solid performance to dominate the IRC 1600 class, clocking 2:41.4.
Equally impressive was Adith K C, the National champion in the FMSCI 1600 who clocked 2:37.7 to top his category.
The action will escalate when the competitors head to the nearby coffee estates for the Special Stages.
Results: IRC Overall: Samir Thapar/ Gurinder Singh Mann (JCT Rallying) 2:27.3, 1; Vikram Mathias/ Swaroop Mohan (Evo IX) 2:27.8, 2; Abhilash PG/ Anoop Kumar (Evo VI) 2:32.2, 3.
IRC 2000: Karna Kadur/ Sujith Kumar BS (Mitsubishi Cedia) 2:38.5, 1; Rahul Kanthraj/ Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama) 02:40.2, 2; Byram Godrej/ Somaya AG (Slideways Industries) 02:42.0, 3.
IRC 1600: Dean Mascarenhas/ Shanmugha SN (VW Polo) 2:41.4, 1; Ritesh M Guttedar/ Lokaranjan (VW Polo) 2:43.1, 2; Anirudha Ranganekar/ Ninad Mirajgaonkar 2:46.3, 3.
FMSCI 1600: Adith KC/ Harish KN (Honda City V-Tec) 2:37.7, 1; Raghu Nandan B/ Suraj K (Honda City V-Tec) 2:41.7, 2; Shahid Khan/ Dhananjayan B (Maruti Esteem) 2:43.4, 3.