PANAJI: Defending champion Vaibhav Marathe from Goa, made a strong start to the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2021-22 Round 1 ‘Rally of Coimbatore’ by clinching the first position in INRC4 category on the opening day of four special stages.
One of the ‘A seeded’ competitor in the fray, two-time champion Vaibhav Marathe and co-driver Dr. Dinesh S (Shimoga) are ahead of second-placed Mujeeb Rahaman / Ravindra Kumar. Shivani Parmar / Vani Parmar are in third position.
In the dirt-surface special stages of 15km each, Vaibhav driving Honda City; notched up strong finishes on the podium – clocking 00:16:55.500 in SS01 (second-place), 00:15:36.400 in SS02 (first place),00:16:53.200 in SS03 (second place). His car encountered an electro-mechanical issue in the final stage of the day and his timing took a beating as he clocked 00:17:57.600 in SS04. Vaibhav had to settle for the third place.
Vaibhav/Dinesh S, privateer team supported by MRF Tyres, are in the 23rd position in the overall leader board, 00:07:16.500 behind INRC leader Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai of Arka Motorsports , driving VW Polo.
