Aroor Arjun Rao won the opening round of the 2023 Indian National Rally Championship.
Gaurav Gill braved tough weather conditions to win Round 2 of the FIA-Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). The same venue also hosted the South India Rally – the opening round of the 2023 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which was won by Aroor Arjun Rao.
This was Gill’s first time competing with new co-driver Aniruddha Rangnekar. Since he was driving an imported four-wheel drive Subaru Impreza, he could only contest in the APRC round.
- Gill competed in the APRC round with a Subaru Impreza
- Aroor Arjun Rao took his first win in seven years
Gill wins APRC Round 2
The APRC round had a total of 15 entries, including the Toyota Rally team from Thailand. The rally started with a cross-over Super Special Stage, where two cars raced each other on parallel tracks – the first of its kind in the INRC. This cross-over format caught out several competitors who chose the wrong lane.
Seven-time national champion and three-time APRC champion Gill set the pace early on to take the lead at the end of the opening day. He lost some time on Saturday after battling mechanical issues as well the rain rendering the stages slushy and slippery.
Both loops of the Madras International Circuit stage on Sunday had to be cancelled after overnight rains water-logged the track. So, the final day’s schedule was shortened to just two runs of the Aavisa Stage that held up well to the heavy rains and was dry.
Gill did just enough to take victory. “I am very relieved as it was mentally very taxing weekend. There were niggles with my car that went on forever, and I am happy to bring it back home safely,” he said.
“There were also extreme changes in conditions. One stage (MIC Track) was bone dry and the other [Aavisa] slushy yesterday, and today, it was the other way around when portions of the Track stage were underwater. I had a tough time negotiating it, and no surprises that the Stage was later cancelled as there was no way the two-wheel drive cars behind us could have made it.”
Gill also confirmed that he’ll be back for the remainder of the INRC this season and will also compete in the final round of the APRC in Indonesia later this year.
The Thai duo of Mana Pornsiricherd and co-driver Thanyapat Meenil finished second. Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik moved up a spot to third when reigning champions Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai retired after stalling on the last day.
2023 APRC Round 2 results
1. Gaurav Gill / Aniruddha Rangnekar – 1hr 50:23mins
2. Mana Pornsiricherd / Thanyaphat Meenil – 1hr 51:12mins
3. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik – 1mins 58:44mins
Aroor Arjun Rao wins South India Rally
Meanwhile, in the opening round of the 2023 INRC, Aroor Arjun Rao (co-driver Satish Rajagopal) took his first win in seven years. Sahil Khanna (co-driver Harish KN Gowda) topped the INRC-2 category, while Daraius Shroff (co-driver Shahid Salman) sealed his maiden INRC rally win by finishing first in the INRC-3 category.
Abhin Rai (co-driver D Uday Kumar) took victory in the INRC-4 category. Pragathi Gowda (co-driver Trisha Alonkar) and Arjun Rajiv (co-driver Rohit Gowda) topped the Ladies and Junior INRC categories, respectively.
2023 INRC Round 1 results
INRC
1. Aroor Arjun Rao / Satish Rajagopal – 1hr 55:26.6mins
2. Daraius Shroff / Shahid Salman – 1hr 58:11.1mins
3. Sheshank Jamwal / Aseem Sharma – 1hr 58:30.1mins
INRC-2
1. Sahil Khanna / Harish KN Gowda – 2hrs 01:38.9mins
2. Charen Chandran / Vignesh Mahalingam – 2hrs 15:29.4mins
3. Harikrishan Wadia / BK Rishabh – 2hrs 16:53.8mins
INRC-3
1. Daraius Shroff / Shahid Salman – 1hr 58:11.1mins
2. Sheshank Jamwal / Aseem Sharma – 1hr 58:30.1mins
3. Vishakh Balachandran / Anil Abbas – 1hr 59:29.8mins
INRC-4
1. Abhin Rai / D Uday Kumar – 2hrs 04:48.5mins
2. Dheeraj KV / Pramod Raman – 2hrs 07:51.2mins
3. Arun Mohan / Rishikesh KR – 2hrs 45:44.9mins
Ladies Cup
1. Pragathi Gowda / Trisha Alonkar – 1hr 59:58.5mins
2. Shivani Parmar / Sanath G – 2hrs 20:12.4mins
Junior INRC
1. Arjun Rajiv / Rohit Gowda – 2hrs 00:13.22mins
2. Arnav Pratap Singh / Arjun SSB – 2hrs 00:50.6mins
3. Jahaan Singh Gill / Suraj Keshava Prasad – 2hrs 01.04.9mins
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge
1. Samrat Yadav / Arvind Dheerendra – 2hrs 03:12.1mins
2. Darshan Nachappa / Abhinav Ganapathy – 2hrs 09:35.8mins
3. Baljinder Singh Dhillon / Goutham CP – 2hrs 15:26.4mins
Also see:
Karna Kadur wins 2022 INRC, K-1000 Rally as Gaurav Gill retires