Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif returned to winning form at the Karnataka-1000 Rally – Round 2 of the 2021 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC). But it was far from an easy win for the experienced pair, as they encountered a series of mechanical issues.

The event returned after a two-year break due to the pandemic and saw a total of 53 entries.

• Gill scores seventh Karnataka-1000 Rally win
• Sherif reached 300 rally milestone
• Ahmer and Thakur top INRC-2 and INRC-3

Gill and Sherif win 2021 INRC Round 2

Seven-time INRC and three-time Asia Pacific Rally champion Gill was unable to complete the opening round in Coimbatore last month. With the delayed 2021 INRC shortened to just three rounds, he knew bagging victory in Karnataka would be crucial.

It was a difficult first day as Gill’s Mahindra XUV300 encountered electrical and turbo issues, but he was still able to secure the overall lead. The next day, too, he had to run the last section of the rally without any brakes. But he eked out just enough to win the event, 15 seconds ahead of Younus Ilyas and co-driver Anirudha Ranganekar.

The victory marked Gill’s seventh Karnataka-1000 Rally win and it was also the perfect way for Sherif to wrap up his 300th rally milestone.

“Undoubtedly, today’s win is very satisfying, considering the difficult weekend we had and the non-finish in the Coimbatore round. We had electrical problems, a damaged windscreen when the bonnet flew open in the very first Stage. So, we lost a bit of time as we had to stop and lock the bonnet. Then, in the last Stage, I had to negotiate the last six-seven kilometres without brakes, which again cost us time. But in the end, I am happy we finished the rally and won,” said Gill.

Another INRC-3 win for Thakur

Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Sanath G topped the INRC-2 category, while Rally of Coimbatore winners Aditya Thakur and Virender Kashyap won in the INRC-3 category.

The mother-daughter pair of Shivani and Vani Parmar won in the INRC-4 class. The Junior INRC category had just two finishers, with Raghuram Saminathan and Bharath SM winning ahead of Shivani Pruthvi and Ruthvik Praveen.

Samrat Yadav and co-driver M Chandrashekar won in the non-championship FMSCI Gypsy Challenge category.

The final round, the famous South India Rally, will now take place from March 25-27.