Chetan Shivram takes pole position in Coimbatore

On a day full of surprises, INRC 3s Chetan Shivram of Akshara Racing jumped into early lead in the Rally of Coimbatore, Round 2 of the Champions Yacht Club FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, here on Saturday.

Chetan and his brother and co-driver Dilip Sharan were most comfortable in the treacherous terrain, marked by slushy conditions and loose sand, posting a total time of 1:05:32.900 hours to complete Day 1's five stages to be ahead of the field. 

Suhem Kabeer (with Jeeva Rathnam) and Younus Ilyas (with Harish Gowda) were hot on the tail of the leader, taking the second and third positions, respectively, by the end of the day. The two JK Tyre drivers, both INRC 2 contenders, were in their elements with Suhem showing consistency in all the stages while Younus won the last two stages to climb into the top three.

Hot favourite Mahindra Adventure's Gaurav Gill (with Musa Sherif) began on a positive note, recording the fastest timings in the first three stages before picking up a puncture and having to eventually pull out with a malfunction. 

Round 1 winner Dean Mascarenhas managed to finish but a very poor second stage, in which his car got stuck in the slush, hurt him badly, pushing him back to the 20th position.

Interestingly, none of the INRC entries managed to finish on the first day. IANS