<p>The husband-wife duo of Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza from Bangalore claimed the overall and Pro-expert class titles in the opening round of the inaugural edition of the JK Tyre-FMSCI Indian National TSD Rally championship.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The two, who have done well on the TSD circuit with podium finishes in four of the major rallies this year in their Maruti Grand Vitara, completed the race with a penalty time of a mere 52 seconds in the Berunda Adventure Sports Club-run event on Sunday.<br /><br />“Obviously, the two of us are very happy and our victory is due to a team effort as it involves understanding and co-ordination between driver and navigator. In addition, the competition was so close that anybody could’ve won,” said Gopalkrishnan. <br /><br />The Erode-based team of KP Karthick Maruti and Sankar Anand, driving a Maruti Esteem, had a penalty of 1:02 to settle for the second spot, while Chandigarh’s Jagmeet Gill and Yogesh Gupta came home a further fifteen seconds behind to claim the third spot.Another Bangalore duo -- Chidananda Murthy and BS Sujith Kumar -- won the Pro-stock title with a penalty of three minutes and 15 seconds. Ramprashanth and C Sakthivel, also from Bangalore, came second (3:32 penalty) while Erode’s S Senthil Kumar and P Velusamy bagged the third spot with a penalty of four minutes and 45 seconds.Erode’s presence in the championship was again felt as B Manikanda and A Parthipan took home the honours in the Novice class.<br /><br />Kolkata’s Deepali Poddar and her navigator Ipsita Das won the honours in the All-Ladies class with a penalty of four minutes and 58 seconds.<br /><br />In the wake of the incident which involved the death of Bangalore-based driver Jitender Shukla and and navigator Ashish Mahajan in the TSD class of the J&K Mughal Rally, the BASC had installed GPS (Global Positioning System) in all cars and handed out accurate Tulip cards to help the participants during the race, even though the 265-km course course was less tedious compared to the J&K route. <br /><br />Final classifications: Overall/ Pro-Expert: Satish Gopalkrishnan/ Savera D’Souza (Bangalore, Maruti Grand Vitara, 52 seconds penalty); KP Karthick Maruthi/ Sankar Anand (Erode, Maruti Esteem, 1:02) 1; Jagmeet Gill/ Yogesh Gupta (Chandigarh, VW Vento, 1:17) 3. Pro-Stock: Chidananda Murthy/ BS Sujith Kumar (Bangalore, TATA Indica Vista, 3:15) 1; Ramprashath/ C Sakthivel (Bangalore, Honda City, 3:32) 2; S Senthil Kumar/ P Velusamy (Erode, Peugeot, 4:45) 3.<br /><br />Novice: B Manikandan/ A Parthipan (Erode, Mahindra Scorpio, 6:29) 1; Baskaran G/ P Ganesan (Erode, Maruti Esteem, 7:07) 2; T Sujith/ Shahid Salman (Bangalore, Fiat Punto, 7:53) 3. All ladies: Deepali Poddar/ Ipsita Das (Kolkata, Maruti Alto, 4:58) 1.</p>
<p>The husband-wife duo of Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza from Bangalore claimed the overall and Pro-expert class titles in the opening round of the inaugural edition of the JK Tyre-FMSCI Indian National TSD Rally championship.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The two, who have done well on the TSD circuit with podium finishes in four of the major rallies this year in their Maruti Grand Vitara, completed the race with a penalty time of a mere 52 seconds in the Berunda Adventure Sports Club-run event on Sunday.<br /><br />“Obviously, the two of us are very happy and our victory is due to a team effort as it involves understanding and co-ordination between driver and navigator. In addition, the competition was so close that anybody could’ve won,” said Gopalkrishnan. <br /><br />The Erode-based team of KP Karthick Maruti and Sankar Anand, driving a Maruti Esteem, had a penalty of 1:02 to settle for the second spot, while Chandigarh’s Jagmeet Gill and Yogesh Gupta came home a further fifteen seconds behind to claim the third spot.Another Bangalore duo -- Chidananda Murthy and BS Sujith Kumar -- won the Pro-stock title with a penalty of three minutes and 15 seconds. Ramprashanth and C Sakthivel, also from Bangalore, came second (3:32 penalty) while Erode’s S Senthil Kumar and P Velusamy bagged the third spot with a penalty of four minutes and 45 seconds.Erode’s presence in the championship was again felt as B Manikanda and A Parthipan took home the honours in the Novice class.<br /><br />Kolkata’s Deepali Poddar and her navigator Ipsita Das won the honours in the All-Ladies class with a penalty of four minutes and 58 seconds.<br /><br />In the wake of the incident which involved the death of Bangalore-based driver Jitender Shukla and and navigator Ashish Mahajan in the TSD class of the J&K Mughal Rally, the BASC had installed GPS (Global Positioning System) in all cars and handed out accurate Tulip cards to help the participants during the race, even though the 265-km course course was less tedious compared to the J&K route. <br /><br />Final classifications: Overall/ Pro-Expert: Satish Gopalkrishnan/ Savera D’Souza (Bangalore, Maruti Grand Vitara, 52 seconds penalty); KP Karthick Maruthi/ Sankar Anand (Erode, Maruti Esteem, 1:02) 1; Jagmeet Gill/ Yogesh Gupta (Chandigarh, VW Vento, 1:17) 3. Pro-Stock: Chidananda Murthy/ BS Sujith Kumar (Bangalore, TATA Indica Vista, 3:15) 1; Ramprashath/ C Sakthivel (Bangalore, Honda City, 3:32) 2; S Senthil Kumar/ P Velusamy (Erode, Peugeot, 4:45) 3.<br /><br />Novice: B Manikandan/ A Parthipan (Erode, Mahindra Scorpio, 6:29) 1; Baskaran G/ P Ganesan (Erode, Maruti Esteem, 7:07) 2; T Sujith/ Shahid Salman (Bangalore, Fiat Punto, 7:53) 3. All ladies: Deepali Poddar/ Ipsita Das (Kolkata, Maruti Alto, 4:58) 1.</p>
