Kerala’s Younus llyas ruled the night stage the other day and came back in a stronger fashion on the final day to emerge a clear winner of the Sprint de Bengaluru here on Sunday.
The second stage, to be held under the night skies on Saturday, was cancelled due to ‘dust hang’ though the drivers were prepared to have a go on it. It did not matter much for Ilyas and his co-driver Harish Gowda from Karnataka as they enjoyed a slight ten-second advantage going into the final day.
Representing Race Concepts, the duo looked pretty prepared for any test that came their way. And, they seemed to be running fine in one of the most challenging terrains at the LG Tranquil that had loose soil, gravel, tarmac and steep climbs.
Speed and ability
Dean Mascarenhas had other ideas too despite having a stock car that was not powerful enough to match the speed of the top runner. He believed in speed and ability to take on the best on his day. He showed glimpses of that in the final two stages by winning both of them in a handsome manner.
He made nine and eight seconds in each of the stages but as luck would have it was penalised six minutes for reaching the starting point on Saturday night late. It came as a huge blow as he slipped to the bottom of the table after playing it steady on the stages for most part.
“Call it bad luck as my car failed to start,” said Dean and quickly added that he was pleased with his driving skills that can help him through the INRC season.
Dhruva Chandrasekar made the most out of it with his far experienced navigator Musa Sherif to climb his way up to the second spot in the INRC overall category.
“It was great outing here and I just loved attacking the stages that were both interesting and challenging,” said Ilyas, who plans to shift his class and do a much better job this season.
The CEO of Champions Yacht Club Vamsi Merla, the promoter of the INRC, was pretty pleased with the curtain-raiser event. “For the first time we had the live screening of the stages and also a webcast. This is just the start,” he said.
The results: INRC Overall: 1. Younus Ilyas & Harish Gowda; 2. Dhruva Chandrashekar & Musa Sherif; 3. Sanjay Agarwal & Smitha N. INRC 1: Suhem Kabeer & J. Jeevarathinam, 2. Lokesh Gowda & D Uday Kumar; INRC 2: 1. Younus Ilyas & Harish Gowda, 2. Ritesh Guttedar & Lokaranjan, 3. Lanusanen Pongener & Vinay Kumar PM. INRC 3: 1. Dhruva Chandrashekar & Musa Sherif, 2. Chetan Shivram & Dilip Sharan, 3. Aroor Vikram Rao & Somayya AG.
FMSCI CUP & 4WD: 1. Sanjay Agarwal & Smitha N, 2. Avin Nanjappa & Darshan Nachappa, 3. Nikhil J & Arjun Dheerendra.
FMSCI CUP & 2WD: 1. Vaibhav Marathe & Arjun SSB, 2. Avinash DC & Kenith Harsha, 3. Adith KC & Venu Ramesh Kumar.
Ladies Class: 1. Shivani Pruthvi & Deepti Pruthvi, 2. Harshita Gowda & Vidya M.