The 28-year old from Delhi hurled his Team MRF Cedia around the track with breathtaking aggression and car control, but had to settle for the second spot ahead of team-mate Aroor Arjun Rao (co-driver Satish Rajagopal).

It was much the same in the other categories with the competitors preferring to consolidate their overnight positions as Joseph Jos and Royce K (1600cc), Vikram Devadasen and Nikhil Pai (1400cc), Phalguna Urs and Anoop Kumar (Rally Star Cup), and Sandeep Sharma and Anmol Ramphal (Gypsy) emerged champions.

Provisional, unaudited results:

Overall/2000cc: Arjun Balu/Sujith Kumar (Team MRF, Cedia N+) 1 (1hr, 31mins, 49secs); Gaurav Gill/Moosa Sherif (Team MRF, Cedia N+) 2 (1:34:44); Aroor Arjun Rao/Satish Rajagopal (Team MRF, Cedia N+) 3 (1:36:57).

1600cc (Baleno): Joseph Jos/Royce K 1 (1:39:25); S Sujay/Varun S 2 (1:41:16); Rahul Kanthraj/Vivek Bhatt 3 (1:41:49).

1400cc (MPFI Esteem): Vikram Devadasen/Nikhil Pai (Esteem) 1 (1:40:36); Jos Francis/Manoj M 2 (1:45:21); Samarth Gowda/SM Bharath 3 (1:46:51).

Rally Star Cup (Carbureted Esteem): Phalguna Urs/Anoop Kumar 1 (1:46:33); Balaram CG/Raghuram CG 2 (1:46:48); Harikeshav Nambiar/Ashwin Nadig 3 (1:47:19).

Gypsy: Sandeep Sharma/Anmol Ramphal (Team Thunderbolt) 1 (1:47:14); Khushwant Randhawa/Harminder 2 (1:48:12); Sanjay Agarwal/Chetan Shivram 3 (1:49:22).