Gill goes full throttle to retain lead

Close competition for the second spot on day two.

Gaurav Gill hit good speeds on a terrain that was easy going

One would want to go full throttle on a terrain that is flat and easy going. And, Delhi’s Gaurav Gill (Team Mahindra Adventure) did just that.

He touched top speeds of 180kmph for most part and along with it kept his top position intact on the second day of the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare 2018 here on Tuesday.

“It was a pleasure to drive today. The stage was pretty nice, more like an international one. There were lots of straights than corners and we hit good speeds and brought the car home safe and secure,” said Gill.

His co-driver Musa Sherif was pleased that they were the fastest for the second day in trot. “We had carefully planned our day and it’s working well.”

The fight for the second spot between Mahindra Adventure teammates Philippos Mathai and Amittrajit Ghosh was pretty close the other day. It was only four seconds that separated the two.

With a smooth terrain as this one, one expected the latter to have a ‘josh’ time on Tuesday. But he suffered a flat tyre on his front-right yet again thus giving the advantage to Mathai.

“There’s a long way to go. I would not call it a bad day but it was an unlucky first stage. There was a stone over the crest, right on the line, and we could not avoid,” said Ghosh.

Defending champion Suresh Rana (Chirag Thakur) of Team Maruti Suzuki) was pretty fast as well. He made up for the lost ground on day one to finish sixth.

The results (provisional, leg 2): 1. Gaurav Gill & Musa Sherif 03:19:50; 2. Philippos Mathai & P.V.S. Moorthy 03:26:03; 3. Amittrajit Ghosh & Ashwin Naik 03:34:29.