Chennai, Apr 24 (PTI) Bengaluru's Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai of Arka Motorsports survived a stiff battle to win the MRF 45th South India Rally which doubled up as the first round of the Blue Band Sports FMSCI National Rally Championship 2022, here, on Sunday.

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Kadur put his foot down when it mattered the most, in the last of the nine Special Stages, as he beat the ever-charging Mangalurean Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah, Kodagu) by 4.6 seconds after a see-saw battle. The 2021 National champion Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) of Chettinad Sporting did just enough to finish third overall, some 53.3 seconds behind Mascarenhas.

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Kadur, winner of the Asia Cup round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship at the same venue four weeks back, who enjoyed a 2.9 seconds overnight lead over Mascarenhas, stretched the gap by another two in Sunday's first stage (SS-6).

However, Mascarenhas charged back in SS-7 by making six seconds on Kadur to take a 2.9 secs lead, while Thakur was content to hold position in third. Meanwhile, fancied Fabid Ahmer (Sanath G) from Palakkad, who was lying fourth overnight, retired due to a mechanical failure.

While he finished second in overall classification, Mascarenhas topped the INRC-2 category ahead of Thakur and Kodagu's Suhem Kabeer (Jeeva Rathinam, Bengaluru).

Chandigarh's Jahaan Singh Gill (Suraj Keshava Prasad, Bengaluru) of SNAP Racing took the honours in the INRC-3 and Junior INRC categories. Bengaluru's Prakhyat Shirole (Supreet S) topped the INRC-4 class while Himanshu Arora from Delhi (Vikram Thakur, Chandigarh) won in the non-championship FMSCI Gypsy Challenge category.

Provisional classification (After Leg-2): Overall/INRC: 1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (both Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01Hr, 44mins, 52.700secs); 2. Dean Mascarenhas (Mangaluru) / Gagan Karumbaiah (Kodagu) (01:44:57.300); 3. Aditya Thakur / Virender Kashyap (both Himachal, Chettinad Sporting) (01:45:50.600).

INRC-2: 1. Mascarenhas / Karumbaiah (01:44:57.300); 2. Thakur / Kashyap (01:45:50.600); 3. Suhem Kabeer (Kodagu) / Jeeva Rathinam (Bengaluru) (01:46:38.400).

INRC-3: 1. Jahaan Singh Gill (Chandigarh) / Suraj Keshava Prasad (Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (01:48:51.500); 2. Kuber Sharma / Kunal Kashyap (both Himachal) (01:49:25.200); 3. Daraius Neville Shroff (Delhi) / Arjun Dheerendra (Bengaluru, Slideways Industries) (01:50:15.200).

INRC-4: 1. Prakhyat Shirole / Supreet S (both Bengaluru) (01:55:23.200); 2. Yeshwanth Padala (Hyderabad) / Bharath SM (Bengaluru) (01:56:25.100); 3. Rupesh Kholay / Varun Satyanarayan (both Bengaluru) (02:01:45.000).

Junior INRC: 1. Jahaan Gill / Suraj (01:48:41.500); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh (Delhi) / Arjun SSB (Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (01:50:47.400); Shivani Pruthvi / Deepti Pruthvi (both Davangere) (01:54.15.500).

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)