Gill triumphs

Ilyas loses his way, but finishes second

Having the final say: Gaurav Gill with co-driver Musa Sherif who clinched the honours.

Despite going through some tense moments midway through the final day, Gaurav Gill won the 24th Popular Rally here on Sunday and with it the National drivers’ title for the sixth year.

The Team Mahindra Adventure driver had built up a huge 53-second lead over his nearest rival Younus Ilyas after the nine-stage penultimate day in Idukki. On Sunday, however, he lost a little more than 30 seconds and finished 13th in the final day’s second stage, the 8.5km road stage at Peermedu just before reaching Kochi.

The results:

Popular Rally (final round, INRC): 1. Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif (Team Mahindra Adventure) 1:29:58.9s, 2. Younus Ilyas & K.N. Harish (Race Concepts Motorsport) 1:30:33.1, 3. Karna Kadur & Nikhil V. Pai (Arka Motorsports) 1:30:54.4.

INRC-1: 1. Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif, 2. Sirish Chandran & A.A. Ragnekar (SC) 3. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik (Mahindra Adventure).

INRC-2: 1. Younus Ilyas & Harish, 2. Karna Kadur & Nikhil Vittal Pai, 3. Phalguna Urs & G.M. Srikanth (Snap Racing).

INRC-3: 1. Dean Mascarenhas & Shruptha Padival, 2. Fabid Ahmer & G. Sanat (Chettinad Sporting), 3. Darius N. Shroff & Shahid Salman.

FMSCI 2WD CUP: 1. Vikram Gowda & B.G. Sudhundra (VG), 2. Suraj Thomas & Sob (ST), 3. Lanusanen Pongener & Amrith (Amrith).