When Chandigarh’s Gaurav Gill was signed on by Team MRF for this year’s Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), it was because he possessed the two distinct qualities — aggression and confidence — that made him a true rally driver.On Saturday, the 25-year-old proved his superiority by shrugging off the handicap of suffering two flat tyres — that put him 51 seonds in arrears — to end up forty-eight seconds ahead of Lohit Urs/Pradeep Kumar and Arjunrao Aroor/Satish Kumar on Day One of the 22nd Heera Rally, the opening round of the INRC. With six stages completed, Gill — co-driven by Moosa Sherif — was his usual self; going flat-out on the 15.06-kilometer opening stage at Illythodu, situated 75 kilometers from Kochi. Clocking 10.10 seconds, he had flats in his front tyre — which he managed to replace — and rear right tyres which he drove on to concede a 51-second lead to Arjun Balu. “I was driving fast and safe and I was aware of what I was doing,” explained Gill, who, over the next two stages, regained a 10-second lead after Balu was forced to pull out and Lohit Urs/Pradeep Kumar had problems aplenty due to a torn exhaust. That was the beginning of Gill’s dominance, as in the next two stages he increased the lead to 48 seconds over Lohit, with Arjunrao Aroor 1 minute, 27 seconds adrift of Lohit in third place. While Gill was having his moments on the route, veterans Karandip Singh (Jaidas Menon), Arjun Balu (Kumar Ramaswamy), Prithveen Rajan (PVS Murthy) had their share of ‘luckless’ moments. Karandeep — with a gearbox leak on the transport stage never began, Arjun — who one saw push his car back to the starters’ ramp a day earlier during the ceremonial flag-off — pulled out along with Prithveen due to car problems at different stages.In the 1400 cc section, defending champion Girijashankar Joshy/Srikanth GM were comfortable leaders over Amitrajit Ghosh/Sourabh Choudhary, while the Rally Star Cup is being led by Mazdyar Vatahc/Kaushik Shinde. Provisional Results (after 6 stages) Overall: Gaurav Gill/Moosa Sherif (Team MRF, Cedia) 52.35 minutes; Lohit Urs/Pradeep Kumar (Team MRF, Baleno) 53.23; Arjunrao Aroor/Satish Kumar (Team MRF, Baleno) 54.50,Girijashankar Joshy/Srikanth GM (Esteem) 55.03.1400cc category: Girijashankar Joshy/Srikanth GM 9 (Esteem) 55.03; Amitrajit Ghosh/Sourabh Choudhary (Esteem) 56.51; Bikku Babau/Bonnie Thomas (Esteem) 57.00. Rally Star Cup (after 4 stages): Mazdayar Vatcha/Kaushik Shinde (Esteem) 38.34 minutes.
