Indian National Rally Championship Winners: Karna Kadur and Nikhil Pai

With one round remaining, Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Vittal Pai won the Indian National Rally Championship. Karna and Nikhil, who have won multiple national championships in the subcategories, won the INRC class overall and earned all 40 points, including all of the leg points. Their closest competitor, Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif), failed to score in this round and is now on 44 points. The Bengaluru team won the National Overall title with a score of 112, giving them an unassailable lead of 68 points.

The Arka Motorsports veterans, driving a Leelakrishnan-tuned Volkswagen Polo 1.0 Comfortline, won the Prasaditya 46th Karnataka-1000 Rally, the third and final round of the Blueband FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, on the Special Stage near Gubbi in the Tumakurutaluk despite sustaining significant vehicle damage from hitting a rock.

AroorArjunRao of Mangaluru (with Bengaluru-based co-driver SatishRajagopal) of Mandovi Racing came in second overall, more than a minute behind Kadur, while Delhi's PhilipposMatthai (with Bengaluru-based co-driver Harish Gowda) came in third.

While Virajpet'sSuhemKabeer (JeevaRathinam, Bengaluru) won the INRC 2 class, Matthai also won the INRC 3 category. Further down the line, Delhi's Arnav Singh Pratap (Arjun SSB, Bengaluru) of SNAP Racing won the Junior INRC class, while Chikkamagaluru'sAeman Ahmed (SagarMallappa, Bengaluru) of Ammyfied Racing won the INRC 4 class. Samrat Yadav of Ammyfied Rallying in Chandigarh (Chandrashekar M, Bengaluru) won the Gypsy Challenge, a non-championship division.

The 34-year-old Kadur maintained his composure despite incurring significant damage to the sump guard in Sunday's second Stage when he clipped a boulder. Kadur had a comfortable lead after Leg-1 on Saturday. During the service break, his mechanics completed the required repairs in 20 minutes flat, allowing Kadur to continue and complete the second loop without delay.

When asked about the weekend, Kadur said: "I am very glad that we won our first K-1000 Rally. Yesterday was quite uneventful; however, this morning, we had a scare when we hit a rock in Stage 2.

"The sump guard was cut; thus, the damage was very severe up front. The boys did a fantastic job making the required repairs, including some cutting, chopping, and welding, as well as creating and fitting a new sump guard, all in less than 20 minutes after I was able to return to service.

In anticipation of FMSCI permission, the final round of the INRC 2022, sponsored by Blueband Sports, is expected to take place in Meghalaya.

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