2020 INRC: Gaurav Gill scores back-to-back wins at Itanagar

Gaurav Gill continues his strong run in the 2020 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), securing victory in Round 2 just days after he won Round 1 at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.

• Gill wins, 1 min 33 secs ahead of teammate, Ghosh
• Dean Mascarenhas wins in INRC 2
• Aditya Thakur and Mujeeb Rahman win in INRC 3 and INRC 4

1-2 finish for JK Tyre

After a short rest day, the INRC grid was back in action with Round 2 being held at the same location as the season-opener. Rally ace and Arjuna awardee, Gill was once again the man to beat from the get go. Despite the rally being cut a bit short due to safety reasons, he managed to set the fastest time in all eight stages behind the wheel of his rally-spec Mahindra XUV300.

Along with Gill, JK Tyre also stepped up and signed  Amittrajit Ghosh after Mahindra Adventure opted out of the 2020 INRC. After a more challenging Round 1, things finally fell into place for Ghosh in this round and he followed his teammate past the finish line in 2^nd place to hand JK Tyre a 1-2 finish.

“It feels good to be rallying again. With the COVID-19 situation and then Mahindra pulling out, it was a tricky situation for us. But with JK Tyre’s support and Mahindra offering us their XUV300, things soon fell in place for us,” said Ghosh. “It was a great round for me because after a long time I made it to the podium.”

MRF Tyres’ Karna Kadur took 3^rd place overall in his R2-spec Volkswagen Polo with a new 1.0 litre TSI engine. Meanwhile, Yokohama Tyres’ Chetan Shivram finished 13^th - a commendable result considering he had to use a stock engine following his DNF in the last round.

INRC 2, INRC 3 and INRC 4

The INRC 2 podium was the exact same as the previous round, with JK Tyre’s Dean Mascarenhas once again clinching the win ahead of Sahil Khanna and Rahul Kantharaj.

Aditya Thakur took victory in the INRC 3 category, while Mujeeb Rahman won in INRC 4. Harikrishna Wadia, meanwhile, claimed top position in the Junior INRC category.

2020 INRC calendar

After two back-to-back rounds within just a week, the INRC will now take two weeks off before returning to action with Round 3 in Coimbatore on January 9-10, 2021.

The 2020 Indian National Rally Championship season will kick off in December with a double-header in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh! A total of five rounds will be held this season. Here’s the full calendar released by the @fmsci ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/K88RfRjSH2

— Autocar India (@autocarindiamag) October 10, 2020

2020 INRC Round 2 results

Overall: 1. Gaurav Gill /Musa Sherif (42:15.000 mins); 2. Amittrajjit Ghosh/Ashwin Naik (43:48.100 mins); 3. Karna Kadur/Nikhil Pai (44: 57.300 mins)

INRC2: 1. Dean Mascarenhas/ Shruptha Padival (45:38.600 mins); 2. Sahil Khanna /Vidit Jain (47:42.000 mins); 3. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Bhat (47:45.800 mins)

INRC3: 1. Aditya Thakur/ Virender Kashyap (47:21.500 mins); 2. Fabid Ahmer/ Eldo Chacko (47:30.800 mins); 3. Maninder Singh Prince/ Vinay Padmashali (48:06.400 mins)

INRC4: 1. Mujeeb Rehman/ Goutham CP (50:42.300 mins); 2. Vaibhav Marathe/ Suhan MK (51:28.800 mins); 3. Rohith Iyer/ GM Manjunath (54:21.600 mins)

Also see:

India wins Nations Cup in 2020 Dubai Endurance Karting Championship

India’s longest racetrack coming up in Andhra Pradesh