The mood was optimistic and the weather too turned out fine. Gaurav Gill, a clear leader after three rounds along with co-driver Musa Sherif, left nothing to chance as the K 1000, the fourth round of the INRC is all set for a flag off at the challenging Siddalaghatta course on Saturday morning.
The 387 km two-day championship will be a test for both the man and machine, with the long stretches cut short and short bends added to make the event more challenging.
Gaurav and his co driver Sherif are clear favourites with 78 points from the first three rounds. And with three more rounds to go after this, two of them new terrains and new venues — Bhubaneshwar and Durgapur (near Kolkata), in the coming months, the drivers have a challenge ahead. “There is more challenge in this round with testing conditions and the rains have made it tougher,” said most of the participants.
Karna Kadur with co driver Somonita Ghosh, the lone woman in the fray, has made a lot of inroads in the 2000 N cc category and is overall placed third. Somonita's brother Amittrajit also from Team MRF is laying handy in the second place with 44 points and looks to be the hottest man on the heels of Gaurav Gill. “We are not new to these challenges but still there will be a few testing bends, which has made this leg a challenging one,” said Amittrajit.
Arjun Rao too is in the fray but not in the MRF colours and should pose a few headaches to the front-runners.
