Hyderabad, Oct 19 (IANS): Arjuna Awardee driver Gaurav Gill began with a bang and cruised into form to take the lead, navigating the tricky and rough stages in the Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2024, here on Saturday. Gill, along with co-driver Anirudha Rangnekar, took the overall lead while the pair of Daraius Shroff and Arjun Dheerendra are leading the INRC3 class and Chetan Shivram and Shivprakash, were at the top in the INRC2 class.

In the final stage, SS4 was red flagged after only four cars crossed the finish line as a few cars toppled out. Three top guns, 2021 champion Aditya Thakur, defending champ Arjun Rao Aroor and INRC2 leader Harkishan Wadia, suffered causalities. Daraius Shroff is leading INRC3 after three stages and Chethan Shivram tops the INRC2 class, also after three stages.

Earlier, Delhi speed maestro and seven-time National champion, Gill, clocked the fastest time in the first Special Stage and took a commanding lead of 17 seconds on former champion Chetan Shivram (co-driver Shivaprakash) of Bengaluru with Arnav Pratap Singh and Gulbarga’s Rithesh Guttedar following the top guns in the first stage.

Gill kept his momentum with a combination of caution and aggression in the next three stages to cruise into a comfortable lead after Day 1. Chethan was fastest in JVR2, the second Special Stage, by 6.2 seconds, by Gill bounced back with another 15 second margin on Chethan in the third stage and retained his overall lead.

Provisional Results: (Day 1) (All times after SS3 only)

INRC Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill (privateer, Delhi)/ Anirudha Rangnekar (Pune) (00hour, 52 minutes, 11.9 seconds); 2. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (00:52:36.0); 2. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (00:53:29.5);

INRC2: 1. Chetan Shivram/ E Shivaprakash (A&A Motorsports, Both Bengaluru) (00:52:36.0); 2. Jason Saldhanha (Arka Motorsports, Hassan)/ Thimmu Uddapanda (Kodagu) (00:53:29.5); 3. Ritesh Guttedhar (Pvt. Gulbarga)/ Suraj M (Bengaluru) (00:53:47.9).

INRC3: 1. Daraius Shroff (Chettinad Sporting, Mumbai)/ Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (00:54.13.0); 2. Shashank Jamwal (Arka Motorsports, Himachal)/ Aseem Sharma (Chandigarh) (00:54.03.8); 3. Arnav Pratap Singh (Snap Racing, Gurugram)/ Rohit (Bengaluru) (00:54:07.6)

Ladies Class: 1. Anushriya Gulati (Arka MS, Dehradun)/ Karan Aukta (00:56:43.2); 2. Nikeetaa Takkale (Pvt, Pune)/ Arvind Dheerendra (Bengaluru) (00:58:14.7); 3. Phoebe Nongrum (Snap Racing, Shillong)/ KP Aravind (Bengaluru) (01:06:35.6);

Junior INRC: 1. Abhin Rai (Ideal Racing)/ Moideen Jasheer (both Chikmagalur) (00:54:55.6); 2. Arjun Rajiv (Chettinadu Sporting)/ Vinay (Both Bengaluru) (00:54:26.1); 3. Ajay Sankar (Pvt. Coimbatore)/ Vybhav Mukund (Bengaluru) (00:56:06.5).