Team Mahindra Adventure’s Amittrajit Ghosh showed great tactical acumen to win the Rally of Arunachal – the third round of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2018 – in Itanagar on Sunday.
Ghosh, fought back from Day 1 to rise from ninth to third, enjoyed a much-needed stroke of luck as overnight leader Gaurav Gill pulled out of the competition as his car broke down in the sixth stage.
He tackled the day’s three stages cautiously, finishing second in SS5, third in SS6, and again second in SS7 for a cumulative top timing of 00:57:33.6.
It was 5.9 seconds faster than INRC 2’s Phalguna Urs and Srikanth, giving them the victory.
The Snap Racing pair, who were hot on Gill’s tail all of Saturday, didn’t have a fruitful second day, managing only fourth-place and one fifth-place finish in the stages.
Phalguna’s drive was still good enough to earn his team the INRC 2 win.
Former champion Karna Kadur (with PVS Murthy) made a valiant charge, taking the second place in SS6 and even winning SS7; but that could only fetch him the runner-up trophy.
Kadur’s Arka Motorsports teammate Rahul Kanthraj (Vivek Y Bhatt) dropped down one position to settle for the third place.
