Gaurav Gill braved robust climate situations to win Round 2 of the FIA-Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). The similar venue additionally hosted the South India Rally – the opening spherical of the 2023 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which was received 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 may solely contest within the APRC spherical.

• Gill competed within the APRC spherical with a Subaru Impreza
• Aroor Arjun Rao took his first win in seven years

Gill wins APRC Round 2

The APRC spherical had a complete of 15 entries, together with the Toyota Rally staff from Thailand. The rally began with a cross-over Super Special Stage, the place two cars raced one another on parallel tracks – the primary of its sort within the INRC. This cross-over format caught out a number of opponents who selected the incorrect lane.

Seven-time nationwide champion and three-time APRC champion Gill set the tempo early on to take the lead on the finish of the opening day. He misplaced a while on Saturday after battling mechanical points as properly the rain rendering the levels slushy and slippery.

Both loops of the Madras International Circuit stage on Sunday needed to be cancelled after in a single day rains water-logged the observe. So, the ultimate day’s schedule was shortened to only two runs of the Aavisa Stage that held up properly to the heavy rains and was dry.

Gill did simply sufficient 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 stated.

“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 additionally confirmed that he’ll be again for the rest of the INRC this season and also will compete within the last spherical of the APRC in Indonesia later this 12 months.

The Thai duo of Mana Pornsiricherd and co-driver Thanyapat Meenil completed second. Amittrajit Ghosh and co-driver Ashwin Naik moved up a spot to 3rd when reigning champions Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai retired after stalling on the final day.

2023 APRC Round 2 outcomes

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, within the opening spherical 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 class, whereas Daraius Shroff (co-driver Shahid Salman) sealed his maiden INRC rally win by ending first within the INRC-3 class.

Abhin Rai (co-driver D Uday Kumar) took victory within the INRC-4 class. Pragathi Gowda (co-driver Trisha Alonkar) and Arjun Rajiv (co-driver Rohit Gowda) topped the Ladies and Junior INRC classes, respectively.

2023 INRC Round 1 outcomes

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, Ok-1000 Rally as Gaurav Gill retires