Chennai, April 27: After a lapse of three years, Bengaluru’s reigning National champion Karna Kadur of Arka Motorsports won a round of the FIA-Asia Pacific Rally Championship 2025 promoted by Vamcy Merla at the Madras International Circuit, here on Sunday.

It was a near-flawless drive in the Volkswagen Polo by the 36-year-old Kadur who was greatly aided by his experienced co-driver Musa Sherif from Kasargod as the duo combined beautifully to also clinch the crown in the first round of the Blueband Fmsci Indian National Championship 2025 powered by Vamcy Merla and organised by the Madras Motor Sports Club.

Finishing second in APRC was Kadur’s team-mate and England-based former National champion Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver Ashwin Naik, Mangaluru) while Delhi’s Harkrishan Wadia (co-driver Harish KN, Bengaluru) completed the APRC podium after Philippos Matthai (Harish KN), who was running third, retired with a mechanical problem about five Kms from the finish of the day’s last Special Stage.

Wadia, who drove brilliantly today, made a lot of ground to make up a two-minute penalty he had received yesterday for an early check-in at the Start Time Control to win the Junior APRC (28 years and younger) class ahead of overnight leader Arnav Pratap Singh (Rohit N) and Abhin Rai (Moideen Jasheer KM).

Kadur attributed his success to a judicial blend of caution and aggression. “After a long time, we had a trouble-free run. The car was great and just about everything fell into place. We had carefully planned our strategy, and it was executed flawlessly. We could have gone faster, but in view of the rising temperature, we had to exercise some caution. A few competitors suffered as they did not back off and having seen this, I kept something in reserve in case I needed to push hard. Anyway, it’s a good start to the season. Also, my co-driver Musa’s calls were spot-on, and it greatly helped,” he said.

Ghosh had to overcome a misbehaving VW Polo which was put together about three days before the event after his Mahindra XUV 300 packed up during testing. “We had issues with the car throughout the weekend. Today, we lost the clutch, and it slowed us down. But considering everything, including having only a few days to prepare this VW Polo, we did pretty well.”

Wadia could hardly believe his luck in finishing third in APRC and topping the INRC2 category. “The two-minute penalty I copped yesterday for early check-in at the start, hurt me a lot. Though I was on pace through the two days, two minutes kept getting added to my time. However, I guess, I got lucky in the end with Philippos retiring while I made 50-plus seconds on my rivals today.”

Another notable performance came from Bengaluru-based Tarushi Vikram (Vybhav Mukund Rao) who took the honours in the Women INRC class, displaying good pace and control.

Provisional Final classification:

FIA-APRC (Asia Cup): 1. Kadur / Musa Sherif (Arka Motorsports) (02 hours, 03 mins, 44.0 secs); 2. Amittrajit Ghosh / Ashwin Naik (Arka Motorsports) (02:04:35.8); 3. Harkrishan Wadia / Kunal Kashyap (Arka Motorsports) (02:07:38.5) (including 2min penalty).

Junior APRC: 1. Harkrishan Wadia / Kunal Kashyap (Arka Motorsports) (02:07.38.5); 2. Arnav Pratap Singh / Rohit N (SNAP Racing) (02:09:25.9); 3. Abhin Rai/ Moideen Jasheer KM (Pvt.) (02:10:16.9).

INRC Overall: 1. Kadur / Sherif; 2. Ghosh / Naik; 3. Fabid Ahmer / Milen George (Chettinad Sporting) (02:06:09.5).

INRC1: 1. Kadur / Sherif; 2. Ghosh / Naik; 3. Suhem Kabeer / Vinay Padmashali (Pvt.) (02:12:15.2).

INRC2: 1. Fabid Ahmer / Milen George (Chettinad Sporting) (02:06:09.5); 2. Wadia / Kashyap; 3. Pragathi Gowda/ Chandramouli M (Pvt.) (02:07:23.5).

INRC3: 1. Arnav Pratap Singh / Rohit N (SNAP Racing) (02:09:25.9); 2. Vishak B / Chiranth Jain (Chettinad Sporting) (02:09:27.4); 3. Abhin Rai / Moideen Jasheer KM (Pvt.) (02:10:16.9).

INRC 3T (Turbo): 1. Ramcharan C / Vignesh Mahalingam (Falkon Motorsports) (03:15.3); 2. Naveen Puligilla / Santosh Ritchy Thomas (Pvt.) (02:28:34.9); 3. Jeet Jhabhak / Sekar V (Pvt.) (02:59:09.9).

Women INRC: 1. Tarushi Vikram / Vybhav Mukund Rao (Chettinad Sporting) (02:17:07.0); 2. Phoebe Nongrum Dale / Nash Ross (Pvt.) (02:20:17.9); 3. Anushriya Gulati / Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports) (02: 48:58.8).

Junior INRC: 1. Abhin Rai / Moideen Jasheer (Pvt.) (02:10:16.9); 2. Ajay Shankar / Venu Ramesh Kumar (Falkon Motorsports) (02:11:47.0); 3. RB Kharbirymbai/ Dhanush CP (Snap Racing) (02:14:26.1).

Fmsci Gypsy Challenge: 1. Sanjay Agarwal / Dheeraj Manae (Pvt.) (02:22:23.0); 2. Kariappa Mekerira / Supreeth Sagar (Pvt.) (02:24:49.7); 3. Pankaj Dutt / Jibran Ahmed (Pvt.) (02:33:15.9).

Fmsci Classic Challenge: 1. Pramod Raman / Dheeraj KV (Pvt.) (02:21:01.0); 2. Siddhartha Santhosh / Sawan Satyanarayan (Pvt.) (02:22:13.6); 3. Satish P / Dr. Dinesh S (Pvt) (02:31:54.8).