Seven-time national champion star driver Gaurav Gill dominated the proceedings to finish on top of the overall table on the opening day of the Rally of Coimbatore here on Saturday.
Gill, who is a three-time Asia Pacific Rally Championship winner, decided to go easy and his average clock speed turned out to be 70kmph.
“For a World Rally Championship (WRC) driver like me it is bad. I always touch speeds of 100 and above. That’s where you show your skill but, this time around, I wanted to bring the car safely home,” Gill said.
Gill, who drove the XUV300 at the event, managed a solid lead of 1 min 31 sec over his nearest rival Karna Kadur, who is at the second spot, and the third-placed Arjun Rao.
“I am happy that it ended the way we had planned the day,” Gill added.
Gill praised his co-driver Musa Sherif and said that the latter constantly corrected pace notes during the race.
“Because we had never done such a distance on this car. It is 25 minutes of non-stop driving on loose gravel where there is so much wheel spin. There was so much heat as well. The engines, turbo, drive shafts, gears are not designed to have so much heat and so as a driver you need to be smart,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kerala’s Fabid Ahmer, reigning champion of Indian National Rally Championship 2, began the day with a commanding show in the opening stage.
He was right on top of the INRC2 table before a drive shaft issue cut short his journey midway through.
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