Karna Kadur Clinches 46th K-1000 Rally 2022 Title

Tumakuru, December 4: The Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil V Pai of Arka Motorsports clinched their maiden Overall Karnataka-1000 title by finishing first in the Prasaditya 46th Karnataka-1000 Rally, a round of the Blueband FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship here on Sunday despite suffering a heavy damage to their car after clipping a rock.

Finishing second, over a minute behind Kadur was Mangaluru’s Aroor Arjun Rao (co-driver Satish Rajagopal, Bengaluru) of Mandovi Racing while Delhi’s Philippos Matthai (Harish Gowda, Bengaluru), who returned to rallying after a 13-year break, finished third Overall.

Matthai also took the honours in INRC 3 category while Virajpet’s Suhem Kabeer (Jeeva Rathinam, Bengaluru) topped in the INRC 2 class. Further down the grid, Chikkamagaluru’s Aeman Ahmed (Sagar Mallappa, Bengaluru) of Ammyfied Racing won in the INRC 4 class with Delhi’s Arnav Singh Pratap (Arjun SSB, Bengaluru) of  SNAP Racing bagged the Junior INRC crown. Chandigarh’s Samrat Yadav (Chandrashekar M, Bengaluru) of Ammyfied Rallying emerged champion in the Gypsy Challenge, a non-championship category.

The 34-year old Kadur, who enjoyed a comfortable lead after Leg-1 on Saturday, kept his wits about him after suffering some heavy damage to the sump guard in Sunday’s second Stage when he clipped a rock. His mechanics carried out the necessary repairs in 20 minutes flat during the service break which enabled Kadur to continue and finish the second loop without much ado.

Reflecting on the weekend, Kadur said: “It (the win) still hasn’t sunk in, but I am very happy that we won our first K-1000 Rally. We had a fairly smooth run yesterday, but this morning, we had a scare when we clipped a rock in the second Stage.

“The damage was pretty bad in the front because the sump guard got cut. I managed to come back to service and the boys did a tremendous job in carrying out the necessary repairs, including some cutting, chopping and welding, besides fabricating and fitting a new sump guard, all in 20 minutes flat.

“We checked into parc ferme with just 30 seconds to spare. All kudos to our team who did a tremendous job. Yes, a pretty emotional moment. My dad (late Prakash Kadur) never won a K-1000 Rally and so, I am first in the family.”

Meanwhile, seven times National champion Gaurav Gill (Musa Sherif), who retired in Leg-1 with a drive-shaft issue on Saturday, suffered another setback after rejoining for Leg-2 today with a broken front right knuckle leading to his retirement in the day’s second Stage after being the fastest in the first.

Provisional final classification

Overall / INRC

1. Karna Kadur /Nikhil Pai (Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01hr,13mins, 56.5secs)
2. Aroor Arjun Rao (Mangaluru)/ Satish Rajagopal (Bengaluru, Mandovi Racing) (01:15:11.9)
3. Philippos Matthai (Delhi)/ Harish Gowda (Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01:16:54.0)

INRC-2

1. Suhem Kabeer (Virajpet) / Jeeva Rathinam (Bengaluru, Pvt) (01:16:57.1)
2. Rahul Kanthraj / Vivek Y Bhatt (Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01:17:28.5)
3. Harkrishan Wadia (Delhi) / Amber Udasi (Chandigarh, Arka Motorsports) (01:25.08)

INRC-3

1. Matthai  / Harish;
2. Maninder Singh Prince (Delhi) / Vinay Padmashali (Bengaluru, JK Rallying) (01:17:23.1);
3. Arnav Singh Pratap (Delhi) / Arjun SSB (Bengaluru, SNAP Racing) (01:19:51.7)

INRC-4

1. Aeman Ahmed (Chikkamagaluru) / Sagar Mallappa (Bengaluru, Ammyfied Racing) (01:28:11.4)
2. Rakshith Iyer (Mysuru) / Avinash CA (Bengaluru) (01:31:40.4);
3. Deepak Chandra / Raghuram CG (Bengaluru, DC Racing) (01:43.58.4)

Junior INRC

1. Arnav / Arjun;
2. Pragathi Gowda / Trisha Alonkar (Bengaluru, Arka Motorsports) (01:20:13.2)
3. Ajay Sankar (Kollam) / Rohit Gowda (Bengaluru) (01:21:24.1)

Gypsy Challenge (Non-Championship)

1. Samrat Yadav (Chandigarh) / Chandrashekar M (Bengaluru, Ammyfied Rallying) (01:18:26.7)
2. Himanshu Arora (Delhi) / Vikram Thakur (Chandigarh, Ammyfied Rallying) (01:22:01.9)
3. Kariappa Mekerira (Kodagu) / Supreeth Sagar (Bengaluru, Ammyfied Rallying) (01:26:06.9)

All Women (Open)

1. Pragathi Gowda / Trisha Alonkar;
2. Shivani Pruthvi / Deepti Pruthvi (Davangere, Pvt) (01:24.16.6)
3. Nikeetaa Takkale (Pune) / Deeksha Balakrishna (Bengaluru)