Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) win the 45th South India Rally which doubled up as the first round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2022, here on Sunday.
JK Tyre-backed Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah) won the INRC 2 category while finishing second overall just 4.6 seconds short of the Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai.
Driving an INRC 2 category car, it was not a small feat for Mascarenhas. Chettinad Sporting's Aditya Thakur and co-driver Virender Kashyap also in INRC 2 car came the third overall.
In the first round of the Indian National Rally Championship 2022, Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) led the overall standings with a mere 2.9 seconds lead over Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gangan Karumbaiah, Kodagu), while seven times National champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif) had to exit the first Leg due to a mechanical problem.
The second Leg on Sunday, however, was dominated by the Arjuna awardee Gaurav Gill as he won three of the four stages. While Mascarenhas continued his impressive run to win in the INRC 2 category, his fellow JK Tyre teammate Suhem Kabeer (Jeeva Rathinam) finished third.
With the final round of the INRC 2021 ending only on March 27, the drivers did not have enough time to prepare and get back on track. In such a situation, coming second in the overall category and winning the INRC 2 category is certainly a feat from the Mangalurean.
"To be honest, I never expected this win. It was a great battle with Karna (Kadur) and my fellow teammates. Tough luck for Fabid (Ahmer) as he had a DNF on SS7. Nonetheless, I've had a trouble-free run. The tyres from JK Tyre have worked brilliantly; the stage time says it all. I pushed my limits and got a good finish," said Mascarenhas on his win.
Jahaan Gill (co-driver Suraj Keshava Prasad) won the INRC 3 category (01:48:51.500) while Kuber Sharma (co-driver Kunal Kashyap) finished second (01:49:25.200) and Daraius Neville Shroff (Delhi) / Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru, Slideways Industries) (01:50:15.200) finished third.
( With inputs from ANI )
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