If Gaurav Gill was zooming through the dirt tracks on Friday, Karna Kudur along with his co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) were dominating the Saturday. The two seemed unstoppable as they zipped to a 22-second lead over legendary Gaurav Gill (Srikanth GM) during the second day of the South India Rally at the Madras International Circuit. With four more Special Stages to be run on Sunday and a sizeable lead, Kadur is within striking distance of the title.
The three-day event which concludes on Sunday doubles up as the Round-2 of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship powered by Vamcy Merla and Round-1 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.
Kadur, the 37-year-old Bengalurean supported by MRF Tyres, heads both the APRC and INRC Overall standings ahead of three times APRC champion Gill (Srikanth Gowda). Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabakh with veteran Musa Sherif from Kasargod as the co-driver is placed third in APRC after surviving a broken drive-shaft in the day’s second Stage and nursing the car to the garage courtesy the LSD (Limited Slip Differential) before resuming after repairs.
Trailing Kadur and Gill in the INRC Overall standings is another MRF Tyres-supported crew of Vishakh Balachandran (Thiruvananthapuram) and co-driver Chiranth Jain (Karkala) of Duran Racing who also leads in the INRC 3T class.
Further down the grid, Bengaluru pair of Ritesh Guttedar and co-driver Suraj M head the INRC 2 category ahead of Dehradun’s Anushriya Gulati (co-driver Karan Aukta). Bengalureans dominated the INRC 3 class also with the Arvind Dheerendra-Shahid Salman pair leading from Abhishek Gowda (co-driver Mahesh Nandi).
Chikkamagaluru’s Tarushi Vikram continued her fine run by topping both Ladies and Junior INRC categories partnering Athreya Kousgi.
The Kadur-Gill duel highlighted the day’s proceedings. Kadur enjoyed a near trouble-free run today in his Volkswagen Polo and won all the four Special Stages. “I will take the win today. I wanted to stay low at the start and build up gradually, but Gaurav (Gill) behind me, I had to drive hard through the day to stay in front of the legend. I have a good lead, but we have four more Stages tomorrow, in the reverse direction. I don’t want to ease off, but be mindful of the ruts and rocks that we threw up today,” said Kadur who last won the National title, his third, in 2024.
Gill, chasing his eighth National title, was philosophical about his performance today. “We had an issue with the brakes today leading to overheating. Like I said yesterday, this package of a VW Polo which I am driving competitively for the first time and on developmental tyres by JT Tyres with different patterns. Overall, our polo is down by at least 50bhp on the INRC 1 cars, but it is what it is. Tomorrow, I have to keep in consideration the points I can earn. So, that would be my approach,” said the Arjuna Award winner.
Provisional classification (Leg-1):
Asia-Pacific Rally Championship: 1. Karna Kadur / Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) (01Hr, 01min, 09.9secs); 2. Gaurav Gill / Srikanth GM (01:01:32.3); 3. Jeet Jhabakh / Musa Sherif (01:04:22.3).
Indian National Rally Championship:
INRC Overall: 1. Karna Kadur / Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) (01:01:09.9); 2. Gaurav Gill / Srikanth GM (01:01:32.3); 3. Vishak Balachandran / Chiranth Jain (Duran Racing) (01:03:39.9).
INRC 2: 1. Ritesh Guttedar / Suraj M (AART Motorsports) (01:04:21.1); 2. Jeet Jhabakh / Musa Sherif (Pvt.) (01:04:22.3); 3. Arun Y Mavaji / Jeevarathinam (Chettinad Sporting) (01:06:17.6).
INRC 3: 1. Arvind Dheerendra / Shahid Salman (Chettinad Sporting) (01:03:52.3); 2. Abhishek Gowda / Mahesh Nandi (Arka Motorsports) (01:04.45.1); 3. Chandan Manchegowda/ Suraj Keshav Prasad (Arka Motorpsports) (01:04.59.3).
INRC 3T: 1. Vishak Balachandran/ Chiranth Jain (Duran Racing) (01:03:39.9); 2. Anushriya Gulati/ Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports) (01:06:04.7); 3. Adith KC/ Avinash CA (Arka Motorsports) (01:08:25.2).
Ladies: 1. Tarushi Vikram/ Athreya Kousgi (Chettinad Sporting) (01:05:17.0); 2. Anushriya Gulati/ Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports) (01:06:04.7); 2. Shivani Pruthvi / Vinay Padmashali (01:06.26.1);