Coimbatore, Sep 20 (IANS) The FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2026 arrived in Coimbatore for Round 2, and the gravel roads around the city gave it a finish worth the journey.
The Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore was contested on September 19 and 20 by 64 competitors.
Over two days the crews faced eight stage runs and 110.80 km of competitive distance, almost entirely on gravel. Saturday’s loop ran Black Thunder (13.50 km) and S.M. Agro (14.20 km) twice each. On Sunday the same roads came back in reverse, as S.M. Agro (R) and Black Thunder (R), so crews had to read familiar ground from the other direction.
Saturday belonged to Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif of ARKA Motorsports. The former National champion was quickest of the leading pair on both of the opening stages and ended the day at the head of the field.
Close behind came Fabid Ahmer and Milen George, 5.6 seconds back. Dean Mascarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah were third, just over nine seconds adrift, with plenty of road left.
Sunday brought the turn. On S.M. Agro (R) Mascarenhas took nearly nine seconds from Kadur and moved past Ahmer. The gap to the leader shrank to 0.148 seconds, smaller than a blink.
On Black Thunder (R) he found a rhythm Kadur could not answer, taking more than 14 seconds in a single run. Macarenhas was the faster of the two on every stage from SS3 onward, and he crossed the line in 1:36:19.777, 23.482 seconds clear. Kadur, the former National champion, never stopped pushing, and finished second in 1:36:43.259.
Dean Mascarenhas said, “Karna and Musa set a really strong pace on Saturday, so we knew we had to stay patient and keep chipping away. Being nine seconds down overnight wasn’t a bad place to be, because there was a lot of road left. On Sunday we found our rhythm, and once we got going on Black Thunder (R) we just kept pushing. It was a proper fight with a great competitor, and I’m delighted to take the win in Round 2.”
Gagan Karumbaiah, co-driver, added, “Pace notes were everything this weekend, especially on Sunday when the gaps were so small. Dean trusted every call, and that made all the difference. Beating a crew as experienced as Karna and Musa is never easy, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the championship.”
Jason Saldanha and Srinivas Murthy P V of ARKA Motorsports completed the podium, 1:30.623 off the winning time. Naveen Puligilla and Santhosh Thomas of Duran Racing were fourth, followed by Aditya Thakur of Chettinad Sporting and Philiposs Matthai of Duran Racing, the top two in INRC 2. Harkrishan Wadia was seventh and Anushriya Gulati of ARKA Motorsports, winner of INRC 3T, eighth.
–IANS
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