Gaurav Gill takes handsome lead; Karna Kadur in third after day 2 of APRC Asia Rally

Chennai, March 19: Arjuna Awardee and three-time Asia Pacific Rally Champion Gaurav Gill and co-driver Aniruddha Rangnekar gained the lead at end of Day 2 in the FIA APRC Asia Rally Cup at the Madras International Circuit in Chennai on Saturday (March 18).

Gill and Rangnekar piloted the Subaru Impreza with admirable control and authority after the rain in the Avisa stage made the dirt track slippery.

The rain-master knocked off a handsome 1 minute 18 seconds over his main opposition Mana Pornsiricherd (co-driver Menil Thanyaphat) of Toyota Rally Team, Thailand, in the penultimate stage of the day clocking 18min 54.8sec in Special Stage 6 (SS6) at Avisa.

With controlled aggression, Gill protected his lead in the last stage of the day at the 'Track Stage' at SS7. Earlier, he began cautiously, with the Super Special Stage, a mix of tarmac and dirt.

The Thailand pair who are making their international debut in India, neutralised his overnight advantage with the final day offering two more stages at Avisa and the Track at MIC each, both in reverse direction on Sunday (March 19).

"I am overwhelmed to see such a great response and so many entries for this year's APRC India Leg. The MMSC has done a wonderful job in conducting the round and I would like to congratulate Gaurav Gill for a wonderful and hope that he goes all the way tomorrow," Vamsi Merla, promoter of Indian leg of APRC said.

Behind the Toyota pair, Karna Kadur and his navigator Nikhil Pai, last year winners of the Asia Rally Cup, were leading in the third place, followed by Kolkota's former ERC winner in his class, Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) and Bengaluru brothers Chetan Shivram (co-driver Dilip Sharan).

Provisional Results (Saturday):

APRC: 1. Gaurav Gill/Aniruddha Rangnekar (India) (01:03:04.0); 2. Mana Pornsiricherd/Meenil Thanyaphat (Thailand) (01:04:43.4); 3. Karna Kadur/Nikhil Pai (India) (01:06:56.1)

Source: Media Release