Karna Kadur (along with co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy) of Arka Motorsports survived a turbo failure and surged to victory in the 49th South India Rally, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club, at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday. Kadur’s arch-rival, Gaurav Gill, retired with a mechanical problem.

Finishing in second spot in the APRC was Jeet Jhabkah and co-driver Musa Sherif, while the Spanish husband-wife team of Edgar Vigo Lopez and Fatima Ameneiro Teijeiro completed the podium.

MMSC honoured Sherif with a memento in recognition of his achieving a landmark figure of competing in his 350th career rally, both nationally and internationally.

In the INRC Overall segment, the top three finishers, besides Kadur, were Ritesh Guttedar and M. Suraj (AART Motorsports) who finished second ahead of Arvind Dheerendra and Shahid Salman (Duran Racing). Ritesh topped the INRC 2 class.

The only hiccup for Kadur in an otherwise perfect run was the sudden loss of turbo power in Sunday’s second Special Stage that cost him over a minute when leading Gill by about 30 seconds.

However, three-time APRC champion Gill himself stopped with a mechanical problem on the same stage. It turned the tide irrevocably in Kadur’s favour, whose service crew did a superb job in resolving the turbo issue during the 30-minute service break.

Provisional classification: Asia-Pacific Rally Championship: 1. Karna Kadur & Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) (01hr, 59mins, 55.5secs); 2. Jeet Jabhakh & Musa Sherif (02:04:58.0); 3. Edgar Vigo Lopez & Fatima Ameneiro Teijeiro (Spain) (02:05:47.8).

Indian National Rally Championship: INRC Overall: 1. Kadur & Kumar (Arka Motorsports) (01:59:55.5); 2. Ritesh Guttedar & M. Suraj (AART Motorsports) (02:04:27.4); 3. Arvind Dheerendra & Shahid Salman (Duran Racing) (02:04:29.2).

INRC 2: 1. Guttedar & Suraj (02:04:27.4); 2. Jabhakh & Sherif (02:04:58.0); 3. Arjun Y. Mavaji & J. Jeevarathinam (Chettinad Sporting) (02:07:49.8).

INRC 3: 1. Arvind & Shahid (02:04:29.2); 2. Chandan Manchegowda & Suraj Keshav Prasad (Arka Motorsports) (02:06:02.4); 3. Tarushi Vikram & Athreya Kousgi (Chettinad Sporting) (02:06:46.1).

INRC 3T: 1. Vishakh Balachandran & Chiranth Jain (Duran Racing) (02:05:43.6); 2. Anushriya Gulati & Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports) (02:06:38.8); 3. K.C. Adith & C.A Avinash (Arka Motorsports) (02:11:01.9).

Ladies: 1. Tarushi & Athreya (02:06:46.1); 2. Athira Murali & Arun Chakkalakkal (Duran Racing) (02:15:30.0); 3. Sonakshi Paranthaman & Dheeraj Salimath (Chettinad Sporting) (02:20:56.8).

Junior INRC: 1. Tarushi & Athreya (02:06:46.1); 2. Sonakshi & Dheeraj (02:20:56.8); 3. Hoshmand Elavia & Venu Ramesh Kumar (02:50:41.3).

Masters Cup: 1. Pradeep Ravi & Thimmu Uddapanda (Arka Motorsports) (02:07:15.1); 2. Balakrishna Jayasimha & Arjun Dheerendra (Pvt.) (02:18:13.6).

Classic Cup: 1. M.P. Sreejesh & K.M. Naushad (Pvt.) (02:38:28.7).

Gaurav Gill, returning to rallying after a year’s break, showed no rustiness as he topped the time sheets in the 49th South India Rally, which commenced at the Madras International Circuit here on Friday.

The three-day event is also the second round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and Round-1 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.

The 44-year-old Gill, a three-time APRC champion and winner of seven National titles, clocked a combined time of two minutes, 51.5 seconds for the two loops of 1.45 kms dirt Super Special Stage. He piloted a Volkswagen Polo to finish 5.1 seconds ahead of arch-rival Karna Kadur in the APRC segment with Jason Saldanha in third place.

Gill, with the experienced Srikanth Gowda as co-driver for the first time, gave a near-flawless exhibition of pace, precision and car control and looked to be in a good space going into Saturday’s Special Stages.

Arun Y. Mavaji and Arvind Dheerendra topped the INRC 2 and INRC 3 classes, respectively, while Tarushi Vikram was the fastest in the Ladies class and also in the Junior INRC category.

Provisional results (Leg-1, Section-1): Asia-Pacific Rally Championship: 1. Gaurav Gill & Srikanth Gowda (02mins, 51.5secs); 2. Karna Kadur & Kumar Ramaswamy (02:56.6); 3. Jason Saldanha & P.V. Srinivasa Murthy (02:58.3).

Indian National Rally Championship: INRC Overall: 1. Gill & Gowda (02:51.5); 2. Ritesh Rai & Phalguna Raghavendra (02:55.6); 3. Kadur & Ramaswamy (02:56.6)

INRC 2: 1. Arjun Y. Mavaji & Jeevarathinam J. (03:09.5); 2. Ritesh Guttedar & M. Suraj (03:10.3); 3. Rakshith Iyer & Chandrashekar (03:18.2).

INRC 3: 1. Arvind Dheerendra & Shahid Salman (03:01.5); 2. Ashwin Pulagiri & Raghunath Swaminathan (03:01.9); 3. Tarushi Vikram & Athreya Kousgi (03:05.6).

INRC 3T: 1. Vikash Balachandran & Chiranth Jain (02:59.6); 2. K.C. Adith & C.A. Avinash (03:09.7); 3. Sidhartha Santosh & Sawan Sathyanarayan (03:11.9).

Ladies: 1. Tarushi Vikram & Athreya Kousgi (03:05.6); 2. Athira Murali & Arun Chakkalakkal (03:05.9); 3. Shivani Pruthvi & Vinay Padmashali (03:09.4).

Junior INRC: 1. Tarushi & Athreya (03:05.6); 2. Hoshmand Elavia & Venu Ramesh Kumar (03:14.0).

It is a season of hope for the country’s top two drivers, Gaurav Gill and Karna Kadur, as the duo go head-to-head in the 49th South India Rally, which commences here on Friday at the Madras International Circuit.

The event, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club and which has attracted 35 entries including six female competitors, doubles up as the second round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the opening round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.

The entry lists contain two husband-and-wife teams from abroad. Spain’s Edgar Vigo Lopez and Fatima Ameneiro Teijeiro have entered for the APRC, while the Singapore tandem of Raghuvaran Veerappan and Amanda Chew is competing in both APRC and INRC.

Gill, a five-time National champion, will have the experienced Srikanth Gowda as his co-driver, while Kadur teams up with veteran Kumar Ramaswamy representing Arka Motorsports. Both will be piloting the Volkswagen Polo, and have also entered the APRC.

Incidentally, Gill has confirmed for three APRC rounds, two (Indonesia and China) of which will be in a WRC 2-spec Skoda Fabia, while Kadur has not entered the championship, but is doing a one-off round here.

The three-day itinerary starts with a ceremonial flag-off on Friday afternoon, followed by two loops of the 1.45 kms long Super Special Stage. The action shifts to the Special Stages over the following two days while the Rally concludes on Sunday afternoon. In all, the competitors will negotiate 129.32 kms of competitive Special Stages.