Karna Kadur and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) came up with a drive to remember as he opened a 22-second lead over legendary Gaurav Gill (Srikanth GM) from Delhi and topped the 49th South India Rally at the Madras International Circuit here on Saturday. With four more Special Stages to be run on Sunday and a sizeable lead, Kadur is within striking distance of the title.

Kadur, the 37-year-old Bengalurean supported by MRF Tyres, heads both the APRC and INRC Overall standings ahead of three-time APRC champion Gill. 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.

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.

The Kadur-Gill duel highlighted the day’s proceedings. Kadur enjoyed a near-trouble-free run today in his Volkswagen Polo and won all four Special Stages. “I will take the win today. I wanted to stay low at the start and build up gradually, but with Gaurav (Gill) behind me, I had to drive hard all day to stay ahead of the legend. I have a good lead, but we have four more Stages tomorrow, in the reverse direction. I don’t want to ease off, but be mindful of the ruts and rocks that we threw up today,” said Kadur who last won the National title, his third, in 2024.

Provisional classification (Leg-1): Asia-Pacific Rally Championship: 1. Karna Kadur & Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) (01Hr, 01min, 09.9secs); 2. Gaurav Gill & G.M. Srikanth (01:01:32.3); 3. Jeet Jhabakh & Musa Sherif (01:04:22.3).

Indian National Rally Championship: INRC Overall: 1. Karna Kadur & Kumar Ramaswamy (Arka Motorsports) (01:01:09.9); 2. Gaurav Gill & G.M. Srikanth GM (01:01:32.3); 3. Vishak Balachandran & Chiranth Jain (Duran Racing) (01:03:39.9).

INRC 2: 1. Ritesh Guttedar & M. Suraj (AART Motorsports) (01:04:21.1); 2. Jeet Jhabakh & Musa Sherif (Pvt.) (01:04:22.3); 3. Arun Y Mavaji & Jeevarathinam (Chettinad Sporting) (01:06:17.6).

INRC 3: 1. Arvind Dheerendra & Shahid Salman (Chettinad Sporting) (01:03:52.3); 2. Abhishek Gowda & Mahesh Nandi (Arka Motorsports) (01:04.45.1); 3. Chandan Manchegowda & Suraj Keshav Prasad (Arka Motorpsports) (01:04.59.3).

INRC 3T: 1. Vishak Balachandran & Chiranth Jain (Duran Racing) (01:03:39.9); 2. Anushriya Gulati & Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports) (01:06:04.7); 3. K.C. Adith & C.A. Avinash (Arka Motorsports) (01:08:25.2).

Ladies: 1. Tarushi Vikram & Athreya Kousgi (Chettinad Sporting) (01:05:17.0); 2. Anushriya Gulati & Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports) (01:06:04.7); 2. Shivani Pruthvi & Vinay Padmashali (01:06.26.1);

Junior INRC: 1. Tarushi Vikram & Athreya Kousgi (01:05:17.0).