- Veteran rally driver Jagat Nanjappa claims the top spot at the end of Day 4.
- Defending champions move up to second place.
As the competition progressed on day four at the 2018 Isuzu Rain Forest Challenge, the scoreboard saw more ups and downs than a roller coaster. Rally legend Jagat Nanjappa and his co-driver Chetan Changappa bagged the top position with a score of 1261 points out of 1700 after the completion of SS 10-17.
Moving to the second spot were defending champions Gurmeet Virdi and co-driver Kirpal Singh Tung, having scored 1199 points. Slipping to the third position were Sanbir Singh Dhaliwal and co-driver Gurpartap Singh Sandhu from Chandigarh. Having led the championship so far, the Punjabi duo moved down to the third spot with 1087 points. Following them closely was Malaysian driver Mervyn Lim with his co-driver Alex Tan (1064 points) at fourth. The debutants from Arunachal Pradesh, Chow Ujjal Namshum and co-driver Ingpeng Mein are currently running fifth with 1054 points.
Commenting on the achievement, Jagat Nanjappa (60), representing Coorg’s V5 Offroaders, said, “We rolled-down in the first stage that we attempted today and ended up with a DNF. In the second stage, we faced technical issues with the 4WD setting of our vehicle. But then we pushed ourselves a little extra to make up for the lost points. Thankfully, things took a positive turn and the rest of the day went well for us.”
At the scenic location of Quepem on day four, four Special Stages were held - SS10 to SS13 - followed by four more stages held at night - SS14 to SS17. The night stages raised the level of difficulty for the contestants. The limited visibility meant that the contestants had to be extra careful with no margin for error. Especially because one single mistake could lead to both - loss of points and the danger of permanently damaging the vehicle.
The competition will move to the Green Hills Agri Farm in Maina on 26 and 27 July. The final stage will be held on 28 July which will take place at the Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat in Dona Paula.
