By IANS,
Bangalore : Gaurav Singh Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF came up with a controlled drive in his Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia (N+) in tricky and treacherous conditions following overnight rains to take a 38-second lead over his team-mate Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) at the end of day one in the Karnataka-1000 Rally, here Saturday.
The slushy and slippery track took out as many as 20 vehicles of the 41 entries after six Special Stages at Siddlaghatta near here.
Team MRF was poised for a 1-2-3 finish in the overall standings as Lohitt Urs (Srinivasa Murthy) was lying third.
Among the leading contenders to drop out were MRF’s Arjun Balu (Sujith Kumar) who retired with a drive shaft problem while Castrol-supported Arjun Rao Aroor (Satish Rajagopal) quit due to gearbox failure.
In the 2000cc Group N class, young Karna Kadur (Somonita Ghosh) looked set for his third consecutive win this season in the Indian National Rally Championship as he opened up a 58-second lead over veteran Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Bhatt).
Likewise, in the 1600cc N class, Balram CG (Raghuram CG) enjoyed a comfortable lead of over two minutes over Siddharth Rangnekar (Nitin Jacob).
Results (Provisional):
Overall: Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (Team MRF) 1 (54mins, 54secs); Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Team MRF) 2 (55:32.0); Lohit V Urs / Srinivasa Murthy (Team MRF) 3 (56:25.0).
2000cc (Group N): Karna Kadur / Somonnito Ghosh 1 (59:55.0); Rahul Kantharaj / Vivek Y Bhatt 2 (01:00:53.0); Sreeharsh SD / Uday Kumar D 3 (01:02:39.0).
1600cc: Balram CG / Raghuram CG 1 (01:05:47.0); Siddharth Rangnekar / Nitin Jacob 2 (01:08:09.0); Hanoosh Suraneni / Ravindra Kumar 3 (01:08:46.0).
1400cc (Star Cup): Dean Mascarenhas / Shruptha Padival 1 (01:02:33.0); Karan AM / Shanmuga SN (Kari Motorsports) 2 (01:04:38:0); Aditya Shivaram / Kariyappa KB 3 (01:05:53.0).
Gypsy Cup (modified, T1): Sandeep Sharma / Venu Ramesh Kumar 1 (01:05:32.0). T2 (Stock): Shafeeq Ur Rahman / Ajith KP 1 (01:06.14.0); Sanjay Agarwal / Shivaprakash E 2 (01:07:27.0); Alok Mishra / Rohit Arya 3 (01:15:37.0).