JOIN USUrs-Gowda bag overall crown
The Mysuru-Bengaluru combine of Lohitt Urs and co-driver Srikanth Gowda cruised to win the IRC Overall title in the four-wheeler Rally of Coimbatore 2015, the second round of the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship, here on Saturday. They were in a Mitsubishi Evo VIII car and timed a total of 1::34:59.1.
Mahindra Adventure’s Sunny Sidhu-PVS Murthy (01::39:27.6) finished second Overall, while their teammates Amittrajit Ghosh-Ashwin Naik (1::39:59.0) were third.
Karna Kadur-Vivek Ponnusamy (1::40:30.5) finished fourth Overall and also went on to win the IRC 1600 title here.
Defending National Overall champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) retired with car problems on Friday and started Leg 2 on Saturday. However, Urs and Gowda had put themselves in a good position and clinched the title.
Bengalureans Rahul Kanthraj-Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama), in a Mitsubishi Cedia, wrapped up the IRC 2000 title with a total time of 1::43:06.5. They retained the Rally of Coimbatore title and made it two in a row this season after winning in Nashik. Second was the combine of Hrishikesh Thackersey-Ninad Mirajgaonkar, while Sumit Panjabi-Nitin Jacob finished third.
It was a mix of joy and relief for Karna Kadur (co-driver Vivek Ponnusamy), who clinched the IRC 1600 title.
Last year’s champions Adith KC-Harish KN won the FMSCI Cup with a total time of 1::43:53.2.
Results (provisional): IRC Overall: Lohitt Urs-Srikanth Gowda 1::34:59.1, 1; Sunny Sidhu-PVS Murthy (Mahindra Adventure) 1:39:27.6, 2; Amittrajit Ghosh-Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure) 1::39:59.0, 3.
IRC 2000: Rahul Kanthraj-Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama) 1::43:06.5, 1; Hrishikesh Thackersey-Ninad Mirajgaonkar 1::44:00.8, 2; Sumit Panjabi-Nitin Jacob 1:46:10.7, 3.
IRC 1600: Karna Kadur-Vivek Ponnusamy 1::40:30.5, 1; Bikku Babu-Milen George Cherian 1::42:15.4, 2; Vikram Rao Aroor-Somayya AG 1::42:41.4, 3.
FMSCI Cup: Adith KC-Harish KN 1::43:53.2, 1; Ashwin Reddy-Suraj M 1::44:49.7, 2; Habib Mohammed-Shahid Salman 1::45:21.0, 3.