If Gaurav Gill was zooming through the dirt tracks on Friday, Karna Kudur along with his co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) were dominating the Saturday. The two seemed unstoppable as they zipped to a 22-second lead over legendary Gaurav Gill (Srikanth GM) during the second day of the South India Rally at the Madras International Circuit. With four more Special Stages to be run on Sunday and a sizeable lead, Kadur is within striking distance of the title.

The three-day event which concludes on Sunday doubles up as the Round-2 of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship powered by Vamcy Merla and Round-1 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship.

Kadur, the 37-year-old Bengalurean supported by MRF Tyres, heads both the APRC and INRC Overall standings ahead of three times APRC champion Gill (Srikanth Gowda). Hyderabad’s Jeet Jhabakh with veteran Musa Sherif from Kasargod as the co-driver is placed third in APRC after surviving a broken drive-shaft in the day’s second Stage and nursing the car to the garage courtesy the LSD (Limited Slip Differential) before resuming after repairs.

Trailing Kadur and Gill in the INRC Overall standings is another MRF Tyres-supported crew of Vishakh Balachandran (Thiruvananthapuram) and co-driver Chiranth Jain (Karkala) of Duran Racing who also leads in the INRC 3T class.