Karna Kadur gets first position in round 1 of Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

Karna Kadur of Bengaluru and co-driver Nikhil Pai of Arka Motorsports, who were driving an MRF Tyres VW Polo R5, won the 44th South India Rally. In a spectacular showing, Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif recovered from a mechanical breakdown the day before to finish second.

Several competitions were held at the 44th edition of the South India Rally. Aditya Thakur of Himachal Pradesh and co-driver Virender Kashyap of Chettinad Motorsports won the inaugural round of the revived FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, as well as the last round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship. Their triumph, however, is still conditional on an appeal to the Indian Motor Sports Appeal Court.

The top contenders for the Asia Cup of the APRC are Karna Kadur, Gaurav Gill, and Amittrajit Ghosh. Kadur currently has a one-point lead over Gill in the championship, while Amittrajit Ghosh had to quit due to a mechanical issue.

After the victory, Kadur said, “This is my first win since 2018 and I am very happy to break a jinx. Also, this is my first win in Chennai and the APRC victory also, and I cannot ask for anything better. As always, there is last-minute drama today with lower-arm bush popping out, but we were lucky to finish. We have learnt a lot in the last two rallies (both DNFs).”

Gaurav Gill was gloomy with his defeat and said, “It was the same in Coimbatore where we had a DNF (Did Not Finish) and in K-1000 that we won. Here too we were the quickest, but a mechanical issue cut short our rally yesterday. However, on the restart, we had a good run today. Overall, I am quite happy with our performance,” said Gill, who plans to compete in APRC’s Japan and Australia legs this season.”

The high level of competition shown in the first round of the APRC indicates that we are in for a very fascinating season ahead, with the Asia Cup being particularly tough. The Rally of Otago in New Zealand will host the next round of the APRC on April 8.

The final stand:

FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (Asia Cup, India round): 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (India) (01hr,50mins, 04.500secs); 2. Gaurav Gill / Musa Sherif (India) (02:07:17.000)

Overall / INRC: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01:50:04.500); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (01:51:08.900); 3. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal, Chettinad Sporting) (01:52:16.100). National Overall champion (Provisional, subject to the outcome of an appeal pending before the Indian Motor Sports Appeal Court): Aditya Thakur (Himachal, Chettinad Sporting).