Mahindra Adventure’s Gaurav Gill clinched his fifth MRF-FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship trophy, speeding away to a grand victory in the MRF 43rd K-1000 Rally on Sunday (January 21, 2018). The three-time APRC champion won all the five Special Stages without having to look too much into his rearview mirror. He recorded an overall timing of 00:55:41.6 minutes, almost three minutes ahead of the second finisher, to take his final tally to a perfect 100 points.
Gill, along with co-driver Musa Sherif (110 points), has been unbeaten in the MRF INRC 2017, romping home in each of the four rounds that he had taken part in. He missed Round 4, the Rally of Chikmagalur, as it coincided with his assault on the APRC, but that didn’t stop him from winning the championship.
MRF FMSCI INRC 2017 Championship (Final tally)
- INRC Drivers: 1. Gaurav Gill (100 points) & Musa Sherif (110); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (67) & Shruptha Padival (69); 3. Karna Kadur (58) & Nikhil Vittal Pai (58).
- INRC 2 Drivers: 1. Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Y Bhatt (97) 2. Karna Kadur & Nikhil Vittal Pai (75); 3. Younus Ilyas & Harish K.N. (58)
- INRC 3 Drivers: 1. Dean Mascarenhas (115) & Shruptha Padival (118); 2. Saddam Ali Sheikh (54) ; 3. Daraius N Shroff (51)
- **Co-drivers Nitin Jacob (54) and Mrinmoy Saha (53) took the second and third places in this category.
- FMSCI 2WD Cup: 1. Chetan Shivram & Rupesh Koley (75); 2. Fabid Ahmer & Sanath G (61); 3. Suraj Thomas (48)
- **Co-drivers Suraj M (66) and Thomas Paul 33 took the second and third places.
MRF K-1000 Results
- INRC: 1. Gaurav Gill (00:48:14.1); 2. Arjuna Rao & Satish Rajagopal (00:50:18.2); 3. Karna Kadur (00:51:10.3)
- INRC 2: Karna Kadur (00:51:10.3); 2. G.B. Girijashankar Joshy & Chandramouli M (00:52:03.6); 3. Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Y Bhatt (00:52:54.2)
- INRC 3: 1. Vikram Rao Aroor & Somayya (00:52:55.2); 2. Saddam Ali Saikh & Abhijeet Singh (00:56:22.8); 3. Chandan M Gowda & Vinay P.M. (01:03:43.5)
- FMSCI 2WD Cup: 1. Chetan Shivram & Rupesh Koley (00:55:19.2); 2. Fabid Ahmer & Sanath G (00:55:35.8); 3. Asad Khan & Gautam C.P. (00:56:08.8)