Amittrajit Ghosh, with co-driver Ashwin Naik, of Team MRF won the Speed FMSI South India Rally after finishing first in the 2000cc (N+) category, here at Irungattukottai on Sunday.
With the stewards ruling out the Lohit Urs-Srinivasa Murthy combination, the only other team that was in contention, late on Saturday, Ghosh and Naik were just required to come through the courses on day two of Round two.
The duo completed the objective without any incident to claim first place and move ahead of Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif, the leaders from Round one at Nashik, who logged a DNF on Saturday.
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In the 2000cc N class, Karna Kadu (co-driver Somonita Ghosh) edged out overnight leader Rahul Kantharaj (Vivek Bhat) to pocket the title, finishing less than a minute ahead of the second-placed team. Somonita, sister of Amittrajit, was the only lady driver in the Championship.
Kantharaj (Vivek Bhat) made light of a flat tyre to finish second while Vikram Devadasen (A.G. Somayya) came in third. In the Gypsy Class, Sanjay Agarwal (E. Shivaprakash), made a victorious return, finishing first ahead of Sachin Singh (Venu Ramesh).
Vignesh Devadasen, assisted by Anoop Kumar, finished almost 10 minutes ahead of Aniruddha Rangnekar (Hally Prabhakar) in the 1600cc category.
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The results :
Overall : 1. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik 2h:05m:59.0 secs; 2. Karna Kadur & Somonita Ghosh 2:08:44.0; 3. Rahul Kanthraj & Vivek Bhatt 2:09:03.4.
2000cc (N+) : 1. Ghosh & Naik. 2000cc (Group N) : 1. Kadur (Somonita Ghosh) 2:08:44.0; 2. Kanthraj / Bhatt 2:09:34.0; 3. Vikram Devadasen & A.G. Somayya 2:09:53.0.
1600cc : 1. Vignesh Devarajan & Anoop Kumar 2:31:56.0; 2. Aniruddha Rangnekar & Halley Prabhakar 2:41:31.0.
Gypsy Stock : 1. Sanjay Agarwal & E. Shivaprakash 2:00:31.0; 2. Sachin Singh & Venu Ramesh 2:02:35.0; 3. Shafeeq-ur-Rehman & Adhiraj Bardhan 3:03:34.0.