Coimbatore, September 20, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Dean Macarenhas and co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah of ARKA Motorsports produced a strong comeback on Sunday to win Round 2 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2026, defeating former national champion Karna Kadur by 23.482 seconds in the Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore.
The rally, held on September 19 and 20, featured 64 competitors over eight stage runs covering 110.80 km of competitive distance, with the route running almost entirely over gravel roads.
The opening day featured two runs each of the Black Thunder (13.50 km) and S.M. Agro (14.20 km) stages. On Sunday, the crews tackled the same stages in reverse, with S.M. Agro (R) and Black Thunder (R) providing a fresh challenge on familiar terrain.
Kadur and co-driver Musa Sherif of ARKA Motorsports dominated Saturday, setting the fastest times on both opening stages to finish the day at the top of the standings. Fabid Ahmer and Milen George were second, 5.6 seconds behind, while Macarenhas and Karumbaiah were third, just over nine seconds off the lead.
Macarenhas turned the rally around on Sunday. He gained nearly nine seconds on Kadur on S.M. Agro (R), moving ahead of Ahmer and reducing the deficit to the leader to just 0.148 seconds.
The decisive move came on Black Thunder (R), where Macarenhas gained more than 14 seconds on Kadur in a single stage. He remained the faster of the two on every stage from SS3 onwards and completed the rally in 1:36:19.777.
Kadur and Sherif finished second in 1:36:43.259, while Jason Saldanha and Srinivas Murthy P V of ARKA Motorsports completed the overall podium in 1:37:50.400, 1:30.623 behind the winners.
“Karna and Musa set a really strong pace on Saturday, so we knew we had to stay patient and keep chipping away,” Macarenhas said. “On Sunday we found our rhythm, and once we got going on Black Thunder (R) we just kept pushing. It was a proper fight with a great competitor, and I’m delighted to take the win in Round 2.”
Karumbaiah credited the pace notes and Macarenhas’ trust in them for the victory.
Naveen Puligilla and Santhosh Thomas of Duran Racing finished fourth, followed by Aditya Thakur of Chettinad Sporting and Philiposs Matthai of Duran Racing, who were the top two finishers in INRC 2.
Harkrishan Wadia finished seventh, while Anushriya Gulati of ARKA Motorsports, the INRC 3T winner, was eighth.
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