Bengaluru’s Karna Kadur, a two-time Overall National champion, along with multiple nationial co-driver champion Musa Sherif, switched up gears admirably and annexed the Rally of Maharashtra in style, as the second round of the Blueband Sports fmsci Indian National Rally Championship for four-wheelers, organised by Western India Sports Association (WISA), successfully concluded here on Sunday.
With seven-time National co-driver champion Musa Sherif calling the pace notes, Karna Kadur, trailing in third place by a good two minutes on Saturday, focussed on consistency and gained advantage with skilful driving to win the Overall honours on Sunday. Overnight leaderd, Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Milen George of Chettinad Sporting, lost over five minutes in Special Stage 9 which pushed them down to overall 8th place in the final standings.
Kolkata-Mangaluru pair of Amittrajit Ghosh and Ashwin Naik, a former two-time National champions, also managed to secure a well-deserved second place ahead of young guns Arnav Pratap Singh and Rohit N. Apart from a noteworthy Overall third, the New Delhi-Bengaluru duo from SNAP Racing topped their Class, INRC3.
Kerala’s Fabid Ahmer and George Milen of Chettinad Sporting won the INRC2 class while talented lady driver Pragathi Gowda came second in INRC2 class. Pragathi roped in co-driver Sujith Kumar BS, a veteran multiple National champion and sports administrator, who sat for stand-alone rally. Pragathi’s regular navigator, Trisha Alonkar, is recovering after a surgery. Privateers Shaik Hussain Pasha and co-driver Roshan Claver Crasta won the Classic class while Arnav Pratap Singh also bagged the Junior INRC. Nikeeta Takkale of Pune and co-driver Shivani Parmar of Mumbai won the Ladies class while Baljinder Singh Dhillon and Goutham CP clinched the Gypsy Challenge.
"After a seven-year gap, Blueband brought Nashik back into the National calendar. It is a popular INRC venue in the west and the tarmac stages offered are fast and challenging terrain. Blueband congratulates all the winners, officials, teams and marshal for a well-conducted event," said Premnath K, Promoter, Blueband Sports.
The four stages today were completed by 11 O’clock and provided enough challenges for the drivers on the tarmac roads which were broken and narrow at many places. Of the 53 cars, 13 logged DNF.
Provisional Unaudited classification (final)
Overall: 1. Karna Kadur/ Musa Sherif (Arka Motorsports) 01hours, 47 minutes; 52.9seconds; 2. Amittrajit Ghosh/ Ashwin Naik (Arka Motorsports) 01:49:08.0; 3. Arnav Pratap Singh/ Rohit N (SNAP Racing) 01:49:29.2;
INRC 2: 1. Fabid Ahmer/ George Milen (Chettinad Sporting) 01:51:10.7; 2. Pragathi Gowda /Sujith Kumar BS (Chettinad Sporting) 01:59:32.1; 3. Yashas M Nayaka/ Sudhindra BG (Pvt.) 01:59:40.5;
INRC3: 1. Arnav Pratap Singh/ Rohit N (SNAP Racing) 01:49:29.2; 2. Jeet Jabhakh/ V Sekar (Chettinad Sporting) 01:49:45.5; 3. Daraius Shroff /Arjun Dheerendra (Chettinad Sporting) 01:49:53.6;
Junior INRC: 1. Arnav Pratap Singh/ Rohit N (SNAP Racing) 01:49:29.2; 2. Abhin Rai/ Moideen Jasher (Ideal Racing) 01:50:14.9; 3. Nikeeta Takkale/ Shivani Parmar (Pvt.) 02:00.17.5;
Ladies Class: 1. Nikeeta Takkale/ Shivani Parmar (Pvt.) 02:00.07.5; 2. Phoebe Nongrum/ Rahul Sancheti (SNAP Racing) 02:05:24.4; 3. Harshitha Gowda/ M Srivatsa (A & A Motorsports) 02:19:26.7;
Gypsy Challenge: 1. Baljinder Singh Dhillon/ Goutham CP (Pvt.) 01:58:12.3; 2. Dr Akarsh Sundar/ Ravi Kumar (A & A Motorsports) 01:59:07.7; 3. Sachin Singh/ Prakash M (Pvt.) 02:04:25.5;
Classic: 1. Shaik Hussain Pasha/ Roshan Claver Crasta (Pvt.) 02:27:50.9; 2. Aneeshnath S/ Amitha Aneesh (A&A Motorsports) 02:42:22.5;
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