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The Mangalore-based driver, who had last won a race in 2005, surprised everyone by storming into a relatively good lead at the end of the second day but the 27-year-old, who has -- for most part of his stay at MRF -- driven in the shadows of team-mates Gaurav Gill, Arjun Balu and Lohitt V Urs, did what he could not do very often in the past — hold his nerve.
Aroor snaked through the 4.4-km Special Stage course with a spectacular mix of caution and speed to finish in 1 hour, 53 minutes and 32 seconds to clinch the fourth round of the Indian National Rally Championship.
“This is absolutely fantastic,” an ecstatic Aroor said. “The car is just perfect in terms of handling and tyre specifications. We have some minor glitches but that will be taken care of before the next leg. The Malaysian Racing Championship experience also helped me a great deal in this win.”
Lohitt (Srikanth Gowda), stopped the clock at 1:53:22.7, for the second place. ‘Bangalore Brothers’ CG Balram (CG Raghuram), driving a souped up Esteem in the 1400cc category, came third (1:5322.7) overall. Red Rooster Racing’s Vikram Mathias (2:17:28.4) finished third in the 2000N+ category. Despite a lukewarm show, RRR’s Naren Kumar heads the INRC table with 30 points. Naren is closely followed by Vikram (27) and Aroor (26).
“The championship is much closer now than we expected,” said six-time INRC champion Naren Kumar. “I’m on top right now but only a few points seperate me and the chasing pack. I’m going to stick to what I know and drive.”
“Everything that happened on day one of the race did affect me but I had to go out there and do my job,” he added.
The drivers will now head to Kerala for the fifth round of the championship, followed by the Hyderabad leg, which was earlier postponed due to an incomplete track. With three main contenders and many more eyeing the title, an interesting couple of months awaits rally enthusiasts.
Results: Overall: Arjun Rao Aroor/ Satish K Rajagopal (Team MRF, 1:53:22.7) 1; Lohitt V Urs/ Srikanth Gowda (MRF, 1:53:32.6) 2; CG Balram/ CG Raghuram (privateers, 2:09:35.8) 3.
2000 N+: Aroor/ Rajagopal (1:53:32.6) 1; Lohitt/ Srikanth (1:53:22.7) 2; Vikram Mathias/ PV Srinivasa Murthy (Red Rooster Racing, 2:18:38.4) 3.
1400cc: Balram/ Raghuram (2:09:35.8) 1; Rattan N Gangadhar/ GN Nikunj (pvt, 3:05:52.3) 3.
Rally Star Cup: Kaushik H Shinde/ Ninad A Mirajgaonkar (pvt, 2:14:15.8) 1; Dhirendra Kumar/ Ravi Raidurg (2:14:54.0) 2; S Aditya/ KB Kariappa (pvt, 2:18:00.4) 3.
Gypsy: Amrinder Brar/ Himanshu (Army Adventure Wing, 2:09:40.6) 1; Shakti Bajaj/ Dharmesh Sinha (AAW, 2:15:01.1) 2; Harpreet Singh Sidhu/ Hardevinder S Brar (2:18:54.5) 3.