Jacob, left and Shanmugha with Blueband promoter K. Premnath on Sunday.
K.J. Jacob (co-driver S.N. Shanmuga) emerged the overall winner of the Rally of Hyderabad, the fourth round of the Blueband Sports FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) at Sanghi Nagar near here on Sunday.
For Jacob, who made his debut in the INRC in 2016 at the K1000 rally in Bengaluru, it was the first overall win. He was ably assisted by Shnamuga and driving an INRC2 spec Volkswagen Polo 1.6, they punched above their weight.
Hyderabad’s tough terrain and, the longest special stage among the current rally venues in India, proved daunting as the top three in both the INRC1 and INRC2 and many overnight leaders fell by the wayside in the final stage.
Of the eight premier class cars, driven by top guns in the country, only Younus Ilyas finished the punishing course.
Vishakh Balachandran and Anil Abbas and young turk Arjun Rajiv and Rohit Gowda, both driving the lower INRC3 spec Polo 1.6 cars finished overall second and third.
Jacob and Shanmugha also won the INRC2 class while Vishakh and Anil took the INRC3 victory.
Vivek Ruthuparna (co-driver) Athreya Kousgi won the INRC4 while talented Pragathi Gowda and Trisha Alonkar bagged the Ladies class. Baljinder Singh Dhillon and Goutham CP won the Gypsy class.
Provisional results:
Overall: 1. K.J. Jacob & Shanmugh (Team Arka Motorsports) 1 hr, 54min, 29.2sec; 2. Vishakh Balachandran & Anil Abbas (1:55:18.0); 3. Arjun Rajiv & Rohit Gowda (1:55:28.7).
INRC: 1. Younus Ilyas (Kollam) & Nitin Jacob (Hyd) 1:57:35.5; INRC 2: 1. Jacob & Shanmugha (1:54:29.2); 2. Ritesh Guttedar & M. Suraj (1:57:01.2); 3. Chetan Shivram & Shiv Prakash (1:58:02.9).