Quepem, Goa, Jul 27 (UNI) With the top contenders breathing fire down each other’s neck at the ISUZU RFC India 2018, Day 5 of the week-long event saw the points-gap getting even narrower. At the time of the announcement of provisional results for Special Stages (SS) 18 to 21, veteran rallyist Jagat Nanjappa (co-driver Chetan Changappa) of Coorg retained his position at the top of the leader board with 1614 points out of 2100. This feat included being the top performer in two of the four stages for the day, thereby securing a straight 100 points in both the stages.
Defending RFC India Champion Gurmeet Virdi (co-driver Kirpal Singh Tung) from Chandigarh, who secured the second spot in the competition for the first time yesterday, also held on to his position in the points table with 1490 points. Malaysian driver Mervyn Lim (co-driver Alex Tan), who is driving for Team G.O.A. Fairmont, climbed one spot up to claim the third position with 1411 points. Chandigarh's Sanbir Singh Dhaliwal (co-driver Gurpartap Singh Sandhu) and RFC India debutant Chow Ujjal Namshum (co-driver Inpeng Mein) from Arunachal Pradesh ended Day 5 of India's toughest international off-road motorsport competition at the fourth and fifth positions with 1366 and 1324 points respectively.
Jagat Nanjappa of Coorg’s V5 Offroaders said, “The competition over the last couple of days was defined by two things - participants’ luck and the mercy of the rain gods. While some people got certain stages in day time, others got to do them at night. We ourselves didn’t expect to be in the lead. It’s difficult to hold on to the ladder now that we have reached here, but we plan to somehow cling on to it.”