Chikkamagaluru: The vicissitudes of motorsport surfaced as the XUV 500 of National champion and crowd favourite Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) packed up with a broken drive shaft just 200 metres after the start of the Super Special Stage which JCT Rallying’s Samir Thapar (Gurinder Mann) won in the Coffee Day Rally, the sixth and concluding round of the Indian Rally Championship, here Friday.

The power and traction out of corners of the Mitsubishi Evolution was showcased as Thapar, driving the Evo X topped the time charts, followed by former National champion Vikram Mathias, pairing with a debutant co-driver in Swaroop Mohan, in a Evo IX and PG Abhilash (Anoop Kumar) piloting the Evo VI.

The 2.50 Kilometres long circuit at the Amber Valley School grounds here with its mix of a couple of flowing corners and U-bends, was tailor-made for the three Evo cars which tackled the track with ease, leaving the spectators in their thousands gasping and cheering.

While Thapar was imperious, it was former National champion Mathias, driving the all-wheel drive Evo for the first time, who thrilled the crowd with his flamboyant style. “I test drove this Evo recently, but just one loop of a ground in Bengaluru, so I am still getting used to driving this monster! It is quick, powerful and there is plenty of traction through the corners,” said Mathias.

Mathias has been out of championship rallying for some four years due to personal commitments, but his undoubted talent was always obvious when at the wheel in the one-off events he participated.

Thapar clocked two minutes, 27.3 seconds to the 02:27.8 by Mathias while Abhilash was third at 02:32.2, but the crowd was still left a tad disappointed with Gill’s retirement, though the 2013 Asia Pacific champion will return to the fray Saturday when the 34 competitors head to the Special Stages located in the nearby coffee estates.

Meanwhile, young Karna Kadur (Sujith Kumar BS), returning to rallying after missing the whole of 2013 season, dominated the IRC 2000 class in a Mitsubishi Cedia, while Dean Mascarenhas (Shanmugha SN), fresh out of college, took the honours in the IRC 1600 category, driving the Volkswagen Polo.

While the focus was on the big guns, Adith KC (Harish KN), the newly crowned National champion in the FMSCI 1600 class, put in a fine performance piloting the Honda City V-Tec with a time of 02:37.7, taking clean lines with some silken-smooth driving.

Much to the relief of the organizers, the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur, dry weather prevailed though the sky was overcast in contrast to the downpour Thursday. If the conditions hold, then exciting action is in store over the next two days.

Provisional classification (Leg 1, Section 1):

IRC Overall: Samir Thapar / Gurinder Singh Mann (JCT Rallying, Evo X) 1 (02mins, 27.3secs); Vikram Mathias / Swaroop Mohan (Evo IX) 2 (02:27.8); Abhilash PG / Anoop Kumar (Evo VI) 3 (02:32.2).

IRC 2000: Karna Kadur / Sujith Kumar BS (Mitsubishi Cedia) 1 (02:38.5); Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama, Cedia) 2 (02:40.2); Byram Godrej / Somaya AG (Slideways Industries, VW Polo) 3 (02:42.0).

IRC 1600: Dean Mascarenhas / Shanmugha SN (VW Polo) 1 (02:41.4); Ritesh M Guttedar / Lokaranjan (VW Polo) 2 (02:43.1); Anirudha Ranganekar / Ninad Mirajgaonkar 3 (02:46.3).

FMSCI 1600: Adith KC / Harish KN (Honda City V-Tec) 1 (02:37.7); Raghu Nandan B / Suraj K (Honda City V-Tec) 2 (02:41.7); Shahid Khan / Dhananjayan B (Maruti Esteem) 3 (02:43.4).