Chetan Shivram wins Rally of Coimbatore

Coimbatore, Aug 11 (IANS) Team Aksharas Chetan Shivram rode on his overnight lead to emerge triumphant in the Rally of Coimbatore, Round 2 of the Champions Yacht Club FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), here on an action-packed Sunday.

Going into the second and final day with a mere four-second lead over Suhem Kabeer (Privateer) and a 19-second lead over Younus Ilyas (Race Concepts), Chetan (with brother Dilip Sharan by his side) showed nerves of steel to win the overall INRC title as well as the INRC 3 category.

He enjoyed a bit of luck as his main challenger, Suhem (with Jeeva Rathnam), got stuck in the slush in the day's first stage itself. Suhem lost six minutes to slip out of the main reckoning though he held on to the third place in INRC 2 class.

Chetan, however, couldn't breathe easy as another of Suhem's JK Tyre teammate, Younus, was hot on his heels. Younus kept pace with Chetan in all three stages of day 2, even winning a couple. In the end, though, Younus had to settle for the second place on the INRC podium, falling just 04.600 seconds short.

It was good enough for Younus (with Harish Gowda) to take the top prize in INRC 2 category.

Team Champions' Dean Mascarenhas (with Shruptha Padival) showed typical grit to claw up to the 10th place, climbing 32 places after a stroke of misfortune on day 1 had condemned him to the bottom of the table. He was the standout driver on day 2, taking the second position in INRC 2.

Team Champions' Fabid Ahmer (with Sanath G) was equally impressive, matching the leaders in every stage to rise from his overnight fifth place. He clinched the overall third place and took the second place in INRC 3.