Chennai, Dec 31 : Gaurav Gill of Team MRF has been declared as the champion driver of the 2009 Speed-Indian National Rally Championship following a ruling by the Indian Motor Sport Appeals Court (IMSAC) here last week on two appeals.

Gill, along with team-mates Lohitt Urs and Aroor Arjun Rao had finished in that order at the Coffee Day Rally of Chikmagalur last month, but subsequently the Stewards excluded them from the results on technical grounds following a protest by Red Rooster Racing team.

Chikmagalur (Karnataka), Nov 21 : The 2009 Speed-Indian National Rally Championship leader Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF topped the time charts at the end of the rain-affected first Leg of the Coffee Day Rally of Chikmagalur, the concluding round of the series, here Saturday.

Driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia (N+), Gill, the 28-year old from Delhi, led last year's champion Vikram Mathias (co-driver PVS Murthy) of Team Red Rooster Racing by
24 seconds.

Mathias was tied in second place overall with Team MRF's Lohitt V Urs (co-driver Shrikant Gowda) who lost precious seconds behind the slower Cedia of Prithvi Domnic