Rally of Odisha: Gaurav Gill fastest on day one

Bhubaneswar, Dec 10 (IANS) Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF clocked the fastest time of two minutes, 30.72 seconds in the two-lap 1.5-km Spectator Special Stage on the opening day of the Rally of Odisha.

Gill, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia, pushed former team-mate Lohitt Urs (P.V. Srinivasa Moorthy) to second place as the Mysorean clocked 02:34.18, but ahead of MRF's Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) who did 02:35.24 here Friday.

Jointly organised by Kalinga Motor Sports Club and Bengal Motor Sports Club, Rally of Odisha, the sixth of the seven-round Speed Indian National Rally Championship, is being held under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and is promoted by IMG Sports and Pro-Sports Promotion (PSP).

'There is a long straight where the cars are expected to touch top speeds of 180 kmph, but the route is also technical and challenging as there is a lot of 'pea gravel' and cars can slip and slide off the road,' said Gill when asked for his impression of the Special Stages that will be run over the next two days.

Results (Unaudited, provisional):

Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Team MRF) 2 minutes, 30.7; 2. Lohitt Urs / PV Srinivas Moorthy (Pvt) 02:34.1; 3. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 02:35.2.

2000cc (Group N): 1. Karna Kadur / Somonnita Ghosh 02:35.8; 2. Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Y Bhatt 02: 38.0; 3. Dr Dhirendra Kumar/ Honey Narulla 02:46.9.

1600 cc: 1. Pritul Dey / Sumit Mukherjee 02:50.8; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar / Anoop Kumar 02:51.4; 3. Azgar Ali / Debasish Ghosh 02:54.3.

1400cc: 1. Karan AM / Shanmugha SM 02:43.8; 2. Dean Mascerenhas / Shruptha Padival 02:37.2; 3. Aroor Vikram Rao / AG Somaya 02:49.0.

Gypsy Cup: 1. Sanjay Agarwal / Ramesh Kumar V 02: 42.0; 2. Shafeeq Ur Rehman / Ajith KP 02:42.9; 3. Sachin Singh / Sri Latha 02:42.9.