Niaz-Epton maintain handy lead

Driving the 1870 cc Grand Vitara from Mysore to Udhagamandalam, the Australian pair covered a distance of 365 km in 1::42:35 for the top spot.

Second-placed Suresh Rana and co-driver Ashwin Naik finished nearly three minutes behind the leaders in a time of 1::45:01.

Shafiq Ur Rehman (co-driver George) ended the day lying in third place with a time of 1::48:32.

TVS’ MS Ravindra made the most of overnight leader and team-mate KP Arvind’s crash to take the lead at the end of the second leg in the bikes’ category.

Results: Ultimate: Cars: Niaz Ali/ Kim Epton (1.42.35) 1; Suresh Rana/ Ashwin Naik (1.45.01) 2; Shafiq Ur Rehman/ George (1.48.32) 3.

Bikes: MS Ravindra (1.38.01) 1; Uday Kumar (1.45.11) 2; Natraj R (1.45.24) 3.
Endurance trial: Gangaraj/ Chandu (14S) 1; K Prasad/ Armugham (20) 2; Manju Gowda/ Mustafa (1:02) 3.