INRC Popular Rally: Gaurav Gill wins fifth title while Chetan Shivram crowned 2019 champion

The final round of 2019 Champions Yacht Club FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship took place last weekend in Kottayam, Kerala. India’s rally ace Gaurav Gill secured the title of the Popular Rally for the fifth consecutive time after an action-packed Sunday. Meanwhile, Bengaluru’s Chetan Shivram and his co-driver Dilip Sharan were crowned as 2019 INRC Champion.

After winning SS9 and finishing second in SS10 and SS11, Gaurav Gill and his co-driver Musa Sherif went all out on Day 2. Closing in on the second position in overall was Team Champions’ Dr Bikku Babu and his co-driver Milen George as they finished just four seconds behind Gill. They also won INRC 2 with an impressive margin of two minutes over Dean Mascarenhas/Shrupta Padivel, with whom they had tied at the start of the round. On the other hand, Dean Mascarenhas and Suhem Kabeer took the third and fourth positions in Popular Rally’s overall category.

More importantly, Chetan Shivram and Dilip Sharan made the most of their win at the Rally of Coimbatore and K1000 in Bengaluru to take home the champions trophy. Even after suffering a massive crash on Saturday, Chetan returned on Day 2 to maintain his championship lead. After taking care of their car, Chetan managed to finish tenth in SS9 and made his way up to fifth in SS10 and SS11. 

Meanwhile, in the INRC 3 category, Fabid Ahmer (with Sanath G) nicked the title from Chetan as he finished second behind Aditya Thakur (co-driver Virender Kashyap). In the INRC 4 category, Suraj George along with co-driver emerged victorious, while Vaibhav Marathe (Arjun SSB) and Rakshith Iyer/Chandrashekhar finished second and third.

Results

INRC Overall

1) Gaurav Gill/Musa Sherif - 1:25:01.7 hour

2) Dr Bikku Babu/Milen George - 1:29:16.300 hour 

3) Dean Mascarenhas/Shrupta Padivel - 1:31:02.600 hour

INRC 2

1) Dr Bikku Babu/Milen George - 1:29:16.300 hour

2) Dean Mascarenhas/Shrupta Padivel - 1:31:02.600 hour

3) Suhem Kabeer/Jeeva Rathinam - 1:31:22.000 hour 

INRC 3

1) Aditya Thakur/Virender Kashyap - 1:34:11.300 hour

2) Fabid Ahmer/Sanath G - 1:34:38.900 hour

3) Jacob K.J/Murthy PVS - 1:34:46.300 hour

INRC 4

1) Suraj Thomas/Shob George - 1:35:02.500 hour

2) Vaibhav Marathe/ Arjun SSB - 1:37:55.000 hour

3) Rakshith Iyer/Chandrashekhar - 1:38:51.400 hour