The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Overall title for Mathai-Naik pair

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Monday, Jul 05, 2004

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Sport - Racing : Motor

Overall title for Mathai-Naik pair

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, JULY 4. Philippos Mathai (co-driver Ashwin Naik) won the MAK Nashik Rally, the opening round of Motorsports Association of India's INRC, with steady driving on Sunday.

Favourite Jiby Maliakkal (Nikhil Pai) could recover only 22 off the overnight 37-seconds deficit due a stalled car on day one, ending up second overall in this Gulf Oil-sponsored event, which concluded at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan.

It was the first overall title for the Mathai-Naik duo. The Maliakkal and Pai, forced to step up the pace on the second day found their Honda City 1600 cc V-Tec going off the road, finishing 15 seconds behind the winners (one hour 31m, 18 secs).

Mathai won the 1400cc title too on his return to Nashik after a two-year gap.

Arjunrao Aroor/C.K. Chinappa finished second in the 1400cc category, while the Rally Star Cup was won by Zohrab Zorabian/Rayo Banerjee.

The INRC's second leg will be held in August at Bangalore.

The results (provisional):

Overall: 1. Phillipos Mathai/Ashwin Naik 1:31.18; 2. Jiby Maliakkal/Nikhil Pai (Team Chettinad) 1:31.33; 3. R. Karthikeyan/G. Satish 1:31.42.

1400cc: 1. Phillipos Mathai/Ashwin Naik 1:31.18; 2. Arjunrao Aroor/C.K. Chinappa (Methods) 1:32.40; 3. Sandeep Sharma/Kulbirsingh Dhaliwal 1:35.12.

Rally Star Cup: 1. Sohrab Zorabian/Rayo Banerjee 1:38.16; 2. Amith Kumar/Amith Anand 1:40.07; 3. Rajesh Gadakh/Paritosh Kohok 1:44.57.

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