Chennai, Mar 26 (PTI) On a day of topsy-turvy results, the Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) survived a puncture and a cracked windscreen to seize the overall lead in the 44th South India Rally, which is also a round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the concluding round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship here on Saturday.

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A big shocker was the early retirement of title favourite and seven-time national champion Gaurav Gill after the lower arm of his Mahindra XUV 300 broke, but it was not known whether he will rejoin the rally under the Super Rally format on Sunday morning when five more stages would be run in the reverse direction.

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"We will take a call whether or not to compete tomorrow after examining the car tonight for any collateral damage,” said team engineer N Leelakrishnan.

In all, 33 of the 43 starters finished Leg-1 of the South India Rally, organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club, celebrating its 70th anniversary.

Meanwhile, Kadur, despite the puncture and damaged windscreen, put in some consistent times to take a 19-second lead over Race Concepts' Younus Ilyas from Kollam, while Kolkata's Amittrajit Ghosh was running third, in the Asia Cup.

"We lost almost a minute this morning due to a puncture. I drove the entire stage on three wheels before changing. In the Aavisa Stage, a stone thrown up by (Gaurav) Gill's car, as we passed in the opposite direction, cracked the windscreen which we taped to prevent further damage. That apart, we had a fairly trouble-free run, but tomorrow is another day,” said Kadur.

In the National Championship, Kadur, followed by Mangaluru's Dean Mascarenhas and Ilyas occupied the top three spots (Overall) at the end of Leg-1 today.

INRC overall championship leader, Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) from Himachal was placed fifth behind Ghosh, and has an opportunity to win the championship provided he finishes the event.

(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)