The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Gill in command

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 13, 2006

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Sport - Racing : Motor

Gill in command

Special Correspondent

MADDUR: Team JK Tyres' firebrand driver Gaurav Singh Gill steering a brand new Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia 2000 set himself up in a winning position in the MICO Bosch K-1000 rally after the conclusion of the first leg of the special stages at Maddur.

Gill (co-driver Farooq Ahmed) raced ahead of all the six stages barring the third special stage in which teammate Naren Kumar logged the fastest timing of the day. Naren, however, after lying in second position till the last stage of the day suffered a gear box problem and lost almost two minutes to end up in the fifth spot.

The Cedia's showing in the K-1000 was followed with keen interest by many of the competitors and rally enthusiasts. The car was homologated only ten days ago and Gaurav was given the drive only at the final entry stage. Without any practice runs in the new car it was a big question mark as to how it would perform. But at the end of the day with Gaurav taking a huge lead of 52 seconds over Karandip Singh (Jaidas Menon) there was a distinct buzz about the car. Gaurav said the car handled brilliantly and was a real pleasure to drive.

The provisional results (after Leg 1): 1600cc: 1. Gaurav Singh Gill (Farooq Ahmed) Cedia 2000 (team JK Tyres) 46.33s; 2. Karandip Singh (Jaidas Menon) Baleno (Team MRF) 47.25; 3. Arjun Balu (Kumar Ramaswamy) Ford Fiesta (Team MRF) 47.45.

1400 cc: 1. Girijashankar Joshi (G.N. Shrikant) Esteem 49.02; 2. Sanjay Aggarwal (Pradeep Kumar) Esteem 50.14; 3. Bikku Babu (Bonnie Thomas) Esteem 51.17.

Rally Star Cup: 1. Rajesh Gadakh (Paritosh Kohok) 52.30; 2. Amanpreet Ahluwalia (Manoj Shadija) 53.09; 3. S. Sujay (N.C. Chindananda) 53.34.

Gypsy Class: Saket Shanbagh (Ramesh Shanbagh) 51.56; 2. Suresh Rana Surendar Kumar) 53.53; 3. Khushwant Randhawa (Harpreet Singh) 54.47.

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