INRC 2026: Macarenhas takes Coimbatore win as Kadur settles for second

Dean Macarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah won Round 2 of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2026 after a dramatic fight with Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif. The Macarenhas-Karumbaiah crew finished the Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore in 1:36:19.777, beating Kadur and Sherif by 23.482 seconds.

Kadur led after Saturday's four gravel stages, with Fabid Ahmer and Milen George 5.6 seconds behind. Macarenhas changed the order on Sunday, cutting the gap to Kadur to just 0.148 seconds on S.M. Agro (R) before taking more than 14 seconds on Black Thunder (R).

He was the faster driver on every stage from SS3 onwards and converted the comeback into victory. “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."

ARKA finishes third

Jason Saldanha and Srinivas Murthy P V completed the overall podium, 1:30.623 behind the winners. Aditya Thakur and Virendar Kashyap won INRC 2, while Anushriya Gulati and Karan Aukta topped INRC 3T.

Tarushi Vikram and Athreya Kousgi won both JINRC and INRC Women, the latter by only 0.207 seconds.

Rally sees multiple retirements

The event covered 110.80 km of competitive running across eight stages, with 64 competitors taking part. Fabid Ahmer and Milen George, who were third after seven stages, retired on the final test.

Rahul Kochar/Ravindra Kumar and Neil Nain/Chirag Thakur exited on SS7, while Raguvaran Veerappan and Amanda Jia Ying Chew retired on SS6. Ashwin Pugalagiri P/Raghuram Saminathan and Aneeshnath S/Amitha Aneesh stopped on SS5.

The championship now heads to Kodagu for the Robusta Rally from November 20 to 22.

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