Chennai, April 25 (INAS) Reigning national champion Karna Kadur of Bengaluru set the early pace to take a slender lead in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship after two loops of the short Super Special Stage, which kick-started the Indu Chandhok Memorial 48th South India Rally at the Madras International Circuit, here on Friday.
Kadur, representing Arka Motorsports with veteran Musa Sherif (Kasargod) in the co-driver’s seat, not only topped the chart in the APRC (Asia Cup) segment, but also led the field in the Blueband Fmsci Indian National Rally Championship 2025 Round-1, sparing half-a-second to team-mate, Mangaluru’s Jason Saldanha (co-driver PV Srinivasa Murthy from Bengaluru).
Former National champion Amittrajit Ghosh (Ashwin Naik) finished the day in third spot behind Kadur and Saldanha in both APRC and the National championship to complete a 1-2-3 for Arka Motorsports at the end of Day 1.
Kadur made a couple of errors in the first run of the 1.45 km circuit, which saw him finish second behind Saldanha. However, he found his rhythm and flow in the second loop as he drove the Volkswagen Polo with far more control to take pole position going into Saturday’s Special Stages.
Reflecting on his performance, Kadur said: “I made a couple of mistakes in the first loop, fluffing the start and then hitting a small bund which we had not noticed during the recce. It unsettled the car, but I managed to keep it all together. In the second run, I was far more comfortable and had a good drive. Anyway, today’s run was just starters, the main course is tomorrow.”
Further down the grid, Saldanha took the lead in the INRC-2 class while Sheshank Janwal (Raghu) topped the timesheets in the INRC-3 category, and Pragathi Gowda (Chandramouli M.) was ahead in the Women's INRC.
Meanwhile, the turbo-charged Hyundai i20, making its entry in the Indian Rally scene, attracted considerable attention as Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabakh (co-driver V. Sekhar from Coimbatore) came in 12th Overall but topped the newly introduced INRC 3T class. “I am still settling down in the new car, getting used to the turbo engine. I was exiting the corners a bit slow due to the turbo lag, and that is something I must work on. But otherwise, it was an okay outing, and my learning process will continue,” said Jhabkhah.
In all, 49 competitors took the start in the three-day event, which concludes on Sunday afternoon.
The results (Leg-1, Section-1, Provisional):
FIA APRC/Overall: 1. Karna Kadur / Musa Sherif (Arka Motorsports) (02mins, 50.9 seconds); 2. Jason Saldanha / PV Srinivasa Murthy (Arka Motorsports) (02:51.4); 3. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Arka Motorsports) (02:51.8).
INRC-1: 1. Kadur / Sherif; Ghosh / Naik; 3. Chetan Shivram / E. Shiv Prakash (Pvt.) (02:53.5).
INRC-2: 1. Jason Saldanha / PV Srinivasa Murthy (Arka Motorsports) (02:51.4); 2. Philippos Matthai / Harish KN (Arka Motorsports) (02:53.8); 3. 3. Fabid Ahmer / Milen George (Pvt.) (02:54.8).
INRC-3: 1. Seshank Jamwal/ Raghu (Pvt.) (02:56.2); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh/ Rohit N (Snap Racing) (02:57.7); 3. Vishak B/ Chiranth Jain (Chettinad Sporting) (02:57.9).
INRC-3T (Turbo): 1. Jeet Jhabhak / Sekar V (Pvt.) (03:00.0); 2. Naveen Puligilla / Santosh Ritchy Thomas (Pvt.) (03:02.4); 3. Ramcharan C / Vignesh Mahalingam (Falkon Motorsports) (03:15.3).
Women INRC: 1. Anushriya Gulati/ Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports) (03:02.6); 2. Athira Murali / Arun Chakkalakkal (Pvt.) (03.06.7); 3. Tarushi Vikram / Vybhav Mukund Rao (Chettinad Sporting) (03:10.2).
Fmsci Gypsy Challenge: 1. Akash Sundar / Arjun Dheerendra (03:19.7); 2. Kariappa Mekerira / Supreeth Sagar (03:20.8); 3. Sanjay Agarwal / Dheeraj Mane (03:29.2).
Fmsci Classic Challenge: 1. Siddhartha Santhosh / Sawan Satyanarayan (Pvt.) (03:14.8); 2. Pramod Raman / Dheeraj KV (Pvt.) (03:19.5); 3. Aditya Naik / Rishikesh KR (Pvt) (03:21.8).
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