Ghosh tops Coimbatore Rally

COIMBATORE - Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) of Red Rooster Racing, aided by 20 seconds of grace time, won the overall title in the Rally of Coimbatore, the first round of the Speed-Indian National Rally Championship, sparing 13 seconds to Team MRFs Arjun Aroor Rao (co-driver Satish Rajagopal), here Sunday.

In a late development Saturday night, Ghosh gained 20 precious seconds following his successful plea for grace time in view of being held up by a slower car through much of Special Stage-8. The Stewards decision dislodged Rao from his provisional standing to second place, 14 seconds behind leader Ghosh.

This morning when the final two Stages were run, Ghosh lost 19 seconds to Rao on SS-9, but the Red Rooster driver made 18 seconds on the MRF competitor to regain his overnight lead. The pair clocked identical timing in the concluding Spectator Special Stage.

However, Team MRF intended to protest the 20-second grace time to Ghosh and if the Stewards uphold the protest, then it is likely that Rao might yet be declared champion.

Finishing third behind the two Mitsubishi Cedia cars of Ghosh and Rao was Delhis Sandeep Sharma (co-driver Arjun Chopra) in a Maruti Gypsy.

In all, only 28 of the 61 starters completed all the 10 Special Stages and the Spectator Special, reflecting the rough terrain of the Rally.

The results (provisional):

Overall: 1. Amittrajit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (Red Rooster Racing, Cedia N+) 2hrs, 10 mins, 45secs; 2. Arjun Aroor Rao/Satish Rajagopal (Team MRF, Cedia N+) 2:10:58; 3. Sandeep Sharma/Arjun Chopra (Team Thunderbolt, Maruti Gypsy) 2:16:12; 4. Dr Bikku Babu/Bonni Thomas (MPFI Esteem) 2:16:51; 5. Karna Kadur/Somonnita Ghosh (Rally Star Cup Esteem)

2000cc Class (Cedia N+): 1. Ghosh/Naik; 2. Rao/Rajagopal; 3. Arjun Balu/Sujith Kumar (Team MRF) 2:18:08.

1600cc (Maruti Baleno): 1. Vishal GA/Robinson Rajkumar (2:21:58); 2. Sujay S/Varun S (2:22:42); 3. Rahul Kantharaj/Vivek Bhatt (2:26:48).

1400cc (MPFI Esteem): 1. Babu/Thomas; 2. Amith Anand/Prakash Rodrigues (2:20:23); 3. Francis Jose/Manoj M (DDL Sports) (2:22:08).

Rally Star Cup (Carbureted Esteem): 1. Kadur/Ghosh; 2. Venkatapathy/Santosh Kumar S; 3. CG Balaram/CG Raghuram (2:18:17).

Maruti Gypsy: 1. Sharma/Chopra; 2. Khushwant Randhawa/Harminder S Kaler (2:22:04); 3. Vijay Jose/Pradeep Nagabhushan (2:36:16).