COIMBATORE: Bengaluru pair of Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai (Arka Motorsports) took the overall lead as the first round in the Rally of Coimbatore, witnessed some shock exits here on Saturday.

In the morning, 7-times National champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) withdrew after SS-2 due to an electrical issue with their Mahindra XUV 300 and when he was ahead by 49 seconds.

Also to retire was 2019 champion Chetan Shivram (Dilip Sharan) from Bengaluru with a broken drive-shaft in SS-1. Both Gill and Shivram, however, will rejoin the rally on Sunday in a bid to secure Leg points

Driving a Volkswagen Polo, Kadur, supported by MRF Tyres, enjoyed a lead of over one minute in the Overall standings after four loops of the extremely dusty Special Stages ahead of Himachal Pradesh’s Aditya Thakur (Virender Kashyap) and Mangaluru’s Dean Mascarenhas (Gagan Karumbaiah) who, however, is placed first in INRC-2 category. Thakur leads the INRC-3 class at the end of Leg-1.

Aditya Thakur, leader in INRC-3 category

Fancied Fabid Ahmer (G Sanath) from Palakkad, who is considered a front-runner for a podium finish, had a disappointing day after suffering a puncture on SS-1 and he continued with it in SS-2 before changing the tyre at the service halt. It pushed him to fourth in the overall standings.

“We lost some two minutes due to the puncture. We had no time to change the wheel between the Stages. In the second loop, we made about 40 seconds. So, I will push hard tomorrow,” said Ahmer

Kadur, despite nil seat time, showed tremendous pace. “I made some mistakes with the set-up for the first loop, but otherwise, enjoyed a good run despite not having any seat time in the car ahead of the rally,” he said.

Thakur, was fortunate to survive a crash after his Polo hit a tree in SS-1, damaging the front fender. “The incident did not really affect the performance of the car. I had a good pace today and hopefully, we will do better tomorrow,” said Thakur.

Mascarenhas, supported by JK Tyres, came away with a bent rear wheel after his Volkswagen Polo slammed into a tree, but had enough pace to lead in the INRC-2 category. “We hit a tree sideways. One of the wheels got bent, but I managed to keep the car on the track. The pace, otherwise, was good.

Dean Mascarenhas, who leads in INRC-2 category

The Rally, organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club with MRF Tyres as the associate sponsor, will conclude on Sunday when the two physical Special Stages will be run twice in the reverse order.

(HARPAL SINGH BEDI)