Dean Macarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah won Round 2 of the INRC 2026 in Coimbatore after a thrilling comeback. Trailing Karna Kadur overnight, Macarenhas dominated Sunday’s stages, winning by over 23 seconds on the challenging gravel roads.
The FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2026 arrived in Coimbatore for Round 2, and the gravel roads around the city gave it a finish worth the journey. The Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore was contested on September 19 and 20 by 64 competitors, according to a press release. Over two days, the crews faced eight stage runs and 110.80 km of competitive distance, almost entirely on gravel.
Saturday’s loop ran Black Thunder (13.50 km) and S.M. Agro (14.20 km) twice each. On Sunday, the same roads came back in reverse, as S.M. Agro (R) and Black Thunder (R), so crews had to read familiar ground from the other direction. Saturday belonged to Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif of ARKA Motorsports. The former National champion was quickest of the leading pair on both of the opening stages and ended the day at the head of the field. Close behind came Fabid Ahmer and Milen George, 5.6 seconds back. Dean Macarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah were third, just over nine seconds adrift, with plenty of road left.
Sunday brought the turn. On S.M. Agro (R) Macarenhas took nearly nine seconds from Kadur and moved past Ahmer. The gap to the leader shrank to 0.148 seconds, smaller than a blink. On Black Thunder (R) he found a rhythm Kadur could not answer, taking more than 14 seconds in a single run. Macarenhas was the faster of the two on every stage from SS3 onward, and he crossed the line in 1:36:19.777, 23.482 seconds clear. Kadur, the former National champion, never stopped pushing, and finished second in 1:36:43.259.
A Fight to the Finish
Dean Macarenhas said, “Karna and Musa set a really strong pace on Saturday, so we knew we had to stay patient and keep chipping away. Being nine seconds down overnight wasn’t a bad place to be, because there was a lot of road left. 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.”
Gagan Karumbaiah, co-driver, added, “Pace notes were everything this weekend, especially on Sunday when the gaps were so small. Dean trusted every call, and that made all the difference. Beating a crew as experienced as Karna and Musa is never easy, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the championship.”
Jason Saldanha and Srinivas Murthy P V of ARKA Motorsports completed the podium, 1:30.623 off the winning time. Naveen Puligilla and Santhosh Thomas of Duran Racing were fourth, followed by AdityaThakur of Chettinad Sporting and Philiposs Matthai of Duran Racing, the top two in INRC 2. Harkrishan Wadia was seventh, and Anushriya Gulati of ARKA Motorsports, winner of INRC 3T, was eighth.
Class-wise Winners
INRC
Dean Macarenhas / Gagan Karumbaiah won, followed by Karna Kadur / Musa Sherif and Jason Saldanha / Srinivas Murthy P V, both of ARKA Motorsports.
INRC 2
Aditya Thakur / Virendar Kashyap of Chettinad Sporting (1:38:27.655) won by 35.241 seconds over Philiposs Matthai / Harish K N of Duran Racing. Ritesh M. Guttedar / Suraj M of AART Motorsport were third.
INRC 3T
Anushriya Gulati / Karan Aukta of ARKA Motorsports (1:39:23.810) won by 1:10.487 over Arjun Rajiv / Chandra Mouli of Chettinad Sporting. Adith K C / Avinash C A of ARKA Motorsports were third.
NRC 3
Venunath V / Sanath G of Chettinad Sporting (1:40:36.798) won by 50.606 seconds over Abishek Gowda T C / Mahesh Nandi of ARKA Motorsports. Jenu Johnson / Lenin Joseph of AART Motorsport were third.
JINRC
Tarushi Vikram / Athreya Kousgi of Chettinad Sporting (1:42:25.254) won, with Hoshmand Elavia / Venu Rameshkumar V of R-Tech Motorsports second.
INRC Women
Tarushi Vikram / Athreya Kousgi of Chettinad Sporting took the class by just 0.207 seconds over Shivani Pruthvi / Vinay Manjunath of R-Tech Motorsports after eight stages. Phoebe Dale / Shahid Salman of Chettinad Sporting were third.
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge
Chetan Chengappa / Sujith Chengappa (1:48:13.310) won by 16.472 seconds over Sanjay Agarwal / Dinky Varghese. Kariappa Mekerira / Abhinav Ganapathy of Kodava Racing were third.
FMSCI Classic Challenge
Lavan Poonacha M.P / Ruthwick B.H of Kodava Racing (1:47:36.097) won, with Sreejesh M P / Anusha N S of Alpha Rallying second.
FMSCI Masters Cup
Pradeep Ravi / Thimmanna Uppapanda of ARKA Motorsports (1:44:06.373) won by 2:01.932 over Dinesh Kumar T / Lohith J M of Chettinad Sporting. Balakrishna J / Bopanna Nelammakkada were third.
Dramatic Exits and a Look Ahead
Coimbatore’s gravel gave freely and took just as freely. The cruellest exit belonged to Fabid Ahmer and Milen George. They were on the podium after seven stages, about 16 seconds behind Kadur and roughly 50 seconds clear of the eventual third-placed crew, when the final stage ended their rally. Rahul Kochar / Ravindra Kumar and Neil Nain / Chirag Thakur went out on SS7.
The Singapore crew of Raguvaran Veerappan and Amanda Jia Ying Chew, the rally’s overseas entry and a Chettinad Sporting crew had cut almost 54 seconds from their opening-stage time by SS4 before stopping on SS6. Ashwin Pugalagiri P / Raghuram Saminathan of R-Tech Motorsports and Aneeshnath S / Amitha Aneesh retired on SS5, the first stage of Sunday.
The dust of Coimbatore has barely settled, yet the road already turns towards the coffee hills of Kodagu (Coorg), where the next rally on the calendar, the Robusta Rally, will be run from November 20 to 22. (ANI)
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