Dean Mascarenhas defeated Karna Kadur to win the 2026 Rally of Coimbatore - Round 2 of this year’s Indian National Rally Championship (INRC). A total of 64 cars participated in the predominantly gravel rally, which covered a total of 110.80km of competitive distance.
- Dean Mascarenhas wins, 23.482 sec clear of Karna Kadur
- Fabid Ahmer retires on last stage
Former national champion Kadur and co-driver Musa Sherif dominated on the opening day, holding a lead of 5.6 seconds over Fabid Ahmer and Milen George. Mascarenhas and his co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah, meanwhile, were third overall, just over nine seconds adrift.
But Mascarenhas turned things around on the final day. He outpaced Kadur on every stage from SS3 onwards and ended up taking victory by a margin of 23.482 seconds. “Karna and Musa set a really strong pace on Saturday, so we knew we had to stay patient and keep chipping away. Being nine seconds down overnight wasn’t a bad place to be, because there was a lot of road left. On Sunday we found our rhythm, and once we got going on Black Thunder (R) we just kept pushing. It was a proper fight with a great competitor, and I’m delighted to take the win in Round 2,” said Mascarenhas.
His co-driver Karumbaiah added, “Pace notes were everything this weekend, especially on Sunday when the gaps were so small. Dean trusted every call, and that made all the difference. Beating a crew as experienced as Karna and Musa is never easy, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the championship.”
Jason Saldanha and co-driver Srinivas Murthy P V completed the INRC podium in third place. Ahmer remained in podium contention for majority of the event, but was forced to retire on the final stage.
Next up on the INRC calendar is the Robusta Rally in Coorg from November 20 to 22.
2026 Rally of Coimbatore results
INRC
1. Dean Macarenhas, Gagan Karumbaiah
2. Karna Kadur, Musa Sherif (Arka Motorsports)
3. Jason Saldanha, Srinivas Murthy P V (Arka Motorsports)
INRC 2
1. Aditya Thakur, Virendar Kashyap (Chettinad Sporting)
2. Philiposs Matthai, Harish K N (Duran Racing)
3. Ritesh M. Guttedar, Suraj M (AART Motorsport)
INRC 3T
1. Anushriya Gulati, Karan Aukta (Arka Motorsports)
2. Arjun Rajiv, Chandra Mouli (Chettinad Sporting)
3. Adith K C, Avinash C A (Arka Motorsports)
INRC 3
1. Venunath V, Sanath G (Chettinad Sporting)
2. Abishek Gowda T C, Mahesh Nandi (Arka Motorsports)
3. Jenu Johnson, Lenin Joseph (AART Motorsport)
JINRC
1. Tarushi Vikram, Athreya Kousgi (Chettinad Sporting)
2. Hoshmand Elavia, Venu Rameshkumar V (R-Tech Motorsports)
INRC Women
1. Tarushi Vikram, Athreya Kousgi (Chettinad Sporting)
2. Shivani Pruthvi, Vinay Manjunath (R-Tech Motorsports)
3. Phoebe Dale, Shahid Salman (Chettinad Sporting)
FMSCI Gypsy Challenge
1. Chetan Chengappa, Sujith Chengappa
2. Sanjay Agarwal, Dinky Varghese
3. Kariappa Mekerira, Abhinav Ganapathy
FMSCI Classic Challenge
1. Lavan Poonacha M.P, Ruthwick B.H (Kodava Racing)
2. Sreejesh M P, Anusha N S (Alpha Rallying)
FMSCI Masters Cup
1. Pradeep Ravi, Thimmanna Uppapanda (Arka Motorsports)
2. Dinesh Kumar T, Lohith J M (Chettinad Sporting)
3. Balakrishna J, Bopanna Nelammakkada
Stephen Raj Antony
