Kadur takes advantage in APRC Round 2 and INRC opener at Madras International Circuit

Chennai, April 18 (IANS) Karna Kadur and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) delivered a memorable performance, opening a 22-second lead over the legendary Gaurav Gill (Srikanth GM) from Delhi to win the 49th South India Rally at Madras. This was at the end of Leg-1 on Saturday at the Madras International Circuit.

With four more Special Stages scheduled for Sunday and a significant lead, Kadur is well-positioned to contend for the title.

The three-day event, ending on Sunday, serves as both Round 2 of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Round 1 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.

Kadur, a 37-year-old racer from Bengaluru, leads both the APRC and INRC Overall standings, ahead of three-time APRC champion Gill (Srikanth Gowda). Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabakh, with veteran Musa Sherif from Kasargod as co-driver, is in third place in APRC. He experienced a broken driveshaft during the second Stage of the day but managed to bring the car to the garage using the LSD (Limited Slip Differential) and then resumed competition after repairs.

Trailing Kadur and Gill in the INRC Overall standings is another team from Duran Racing, consisting of Vishakh Balachandran from Thiruvananthapuram and co-driver Chiranth Jain from Karkala, who also top the INRC 3T class.

Further down the grid, Bengaluru's Ritesh Guttedar and co-driver Suraj M lead the INRC 2 category, ahead of Dehradun’s Anushriya Gulati and co-driver Karan Aukta. Bengaluru also dominates the INRC 3 class, with Arvind Dheerendra and Shahid Salman in the lead, followed by Abhishek Gowda and co-driver Mahesh Nandi.

Tarushi Vikram from Chikkamagaluru continued her impressive streak by leading both the Ladies and Junior INRC categories, teaming up with Athreya Kousgi.

The Kadur-Gill duel marked the highlights of the day. Kadur had an almost trouble-free run on Saturday in his Volkswagen Polo and won all four Special Stages. “I will take the win today. I wanted to stay low at the start and build up gradually, but with 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 on Saturday. “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, is on developmental 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);