INRC Rally of Coimbatore | Aditya Thakur leads the pack on day one

Aditya Thakur leads Rally of Coimbatore after six stages, with Gaurav Gill making a strong comeback.

Aditya Thakur (co-driver Virender Kashyap) silenced the big guns with his stunning drive to emerge the overall leader after six stages in the Rally of Coimbatore, the third round of the Blueband-FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship for four wheelers, here on Saturday.

WRC driver Gaurav Gill (Aniruddh Rangnekar), who is going through a lean patch, came out all guns blazing in the first stage. Thereafter, it was Team Chettinad Sporting’s Aditya all the way.

Aditya had spent most of his time in Coimbatore. “I know the place and the surface, and we set up our car accordingly. We definitely pushed to our limits. The stages were good, and we did not make any mistakes and that’s why we managed to finish on top,” he said.

He credited the lead to Virender. “He has been rallying since I was a young boy. INRC is like breakfast for him. He is spot on and I kept following his notes.”

Sunday’s Kethanur stages are going to be a tough. “It’s my favourite as well. There are no long stages and also, I will be the first car out,” added Aditya, who finished on top in his category, the INRC2.

INRC driver Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik) finished behind Aditya. “I don’t know how, as we lacked the power. The turbo was gone right from stage one. Our top speed was just 100kms an hour. I was just driving through and, obviously, pleased to have finished second,” said Amittrajit.

The results (provisional, day one): Overall: 1. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (Chettinad Sporting) 01:25:11.200; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Arka Motorsports) 01:26:28.200; 3. Karna Kadur / Musa Sherif (Arka Motorsports) 01:26:36.700.