National champion Amittrajit Ghosh, who was seen driving a troubled Mitsubishi Cedia with co-driver Ashwin Naik, managed to lead the pack and won the AVT Premium South India Rally.

Ghosh and Naik were able to surpass front-running Arjun Rao and his navigator Satish Rajagopal after they faced a problem with the broken drive shaft and gave away their victory. The AVT Premium South India Rally is the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2013 and was organised at MMRT today.

Ghosh and Naik managed to finish the race 30 seconds before Vikram Devadasen and Shrikanth Gowda, who stood second in the competition. Interestingly, Devadasen and Gowda were also driving Mitsubishi Cedia. Gaurav Gill, who was the champion in 2011, with Musa Sherif was the fastest overall and won the INRC 1600cc class.

Ghosh and Naik faced issues with the car throughout the race while Mahindra XUV 500 and Volkswagen Polo made an impressive debut finishing first and second in respective categories. The winning pair finished the entire race in 54 minutes, 09.3 seconds to win the title.

"Over the two days, we had to change 13 parts and we never had a clean stage. Thus, it was great to come away with a win, my second here after 2011, and start the new season with maximum points although we didn't get to drive the way we wanted," said Ghosh.