INRC 2026 Round 2: Mascarenhas beats Kadur by 23 seconds in Coimbatore
Synopsis
Down nine seconds overnight and staring at defeat, Dean Mascarenhas turned the Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore on its head with a Sunday comeback that won INRC 2026 Round 2 by 23 seconds — beating former National champion Karna Kadur, who led every stage on Saturday but couldn't hold on when the roads reversed.
Key Takeaways
Dean Mascarenhas and Gagan Karumbaiah won the Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore , INRC 2026 Round 2, on 20 September 2026 .
Mascarenhas overturned a nine-second overnight deficit to win by 23.482 seconds with a final time of 1:36:19.777 .
Former National champion Karna Kadur (ARKA Motorsports) finished second in 1:36:43.259 .
The rally covered 110.80 km of competitive gravel stages across eight runs over two days, with 64 competitors .
Jason Saldanha and Srinivas Murthy P V (ARKA Motorsports) completed the podium in third.
Anushriya Gulati won the INRC 3T category; Aditya Thakur topped INRC 2 .
Dean Mascarenhas and co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah claimed a hard-fought victory at the Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2026, overturning a nine-second overnight deficit to win by 23.482 seconds on 20 September 2026. The duo crossed the line in a final time of 1:36:19.777, with former National champion Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif of ARKA Motorsports finishing second in 1:36:43.259.
How the Rally Unfolded
The event was contested over two days — 19 and 20 September — across eight stage runs covering 110.80 km of competitive distance, almost entirely on gravel roads around Coimbatore. A total of 64 competitors took the start. Saturday's loop featured the Black Thunder (13.50 km) and S.M. Agro (14.20 km) stages run twice each, while Sunday saw the same roads tackled in reverse — as S.M. Agro (R) and Black Thunder (R) — forcing crews to re-read familiar terrain from the opposite direction.
Kadur dominated the opening day, setting the quickest times on both Saturday stages and leading at the overnight halt. Fabid Ahmer and Milen George sat second, 5.6 seconds adrift, while Mascarenhas and Karumbaiah were third, just over nine seconds behind the leader.
Sunday's Comeback Drive
The momentum shifted decisively on Sunday. On the first reversed stage, S.M. Agro (R), Mascarenhas clawed back nearly nine seconds from Kadur, leapfrogging Ahmer in the process and cutting the gap to the leader to a razor-thin 0.148 seconds. On the decisive Black Thunder (R) stage he found a rhythm Kadur could not match, pulling more than 14 seconds in a single run. Mascarenhas was the quicker driver on every stage from SS3 onwards, sealing the win by a comfortable margin of 23.482 seconds.
What the Winners Said
Dean Mascarenhas attributed the victory to patience and trust in his pace notes. '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,' he said.
Co-driver Karumbaiah highlighted the importance of precision in the notes. '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,' he added.
Full Results and Category Winners
Jason Saldanha and Srinivas Murthy P V of ARKA Motorsports completed the overall podium in third place, finishing 1 minute 30.623 seconds off the winning time. Naveen Puligilla and Santhosh Thomas of Duran Racing were fourth overall. Aditya Thakur of Chettinad Sporting and Philiposs Matthai of Duran Racing claimed the top two positions in INRC 2. Harkrishan Wadia finished seventh overall, while Anushriya Gulati of ARKA Motorsports took eighth and won the INRC 3T category. With Round 2 settled, the championship battle heads deeper into the season with the standings shaken up.
Point of View
Overnight leads are rarely safe — reversed stages redraw the performance map entirely. Kadur was the class of the field on Saturday, yet Mascarenhas was quicker on every stage from SS3 onwards, suggesting a deliberate strategy of reading the road rather than burning tyres early. What the result also underlines is the depth of INRC's current leading group: three ARKA Motorsports cars in the top five points to team infrastructure that smaller outfits will find hard to match as the championship progresses.
NationPress
20 Sept 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the INRC 2026 Round 2 rally in Coimbatore?
Dean Mascarenhas and co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah won the Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore on 20 September 2026, finishing in 1:36:19.777 — 23.482 seconds ahead of Karna Kadur and Musa Sherif. Mascarenhas overturned a nine-second overnight deficit with a dominant Sunday drive.
How did Mascarenhas overturn Kadur's Saturday lead?
On Sunday, Mascarenhas clawed back nearly nine seconds on the reversed S.M. Agro stage, reducing the gap to just 0.148 seconds, then took more than 14 seconds on Black Thunder (R) to seize the lead for good. He was the quicker driver on every stage from SS3 onwards.
What was the format of the Blueband Sports Rally of Coimbatore?
The rally ran across two days — 19 and 20 September 2026 — with eight competitive stage runs covering 110.80 km, almost entirely on gravel roads around Coimbatore. Saturday featured Black Thunder and S.M. Agro run twice each; Sunday repeated the same roads in reverse.
Who completed the overall podium at INRC Round 2?
Jason Saldanha and Srinivas Murthy P V of ARKA Motorsports finished third, 1 minute 30.623 seconds behind the winners. Naveen Puligilla and Santhosh Thomas of Duran Racing were fourth overall.
Which category winners were decided at the Coimbatore rally?
Anushriya Gulati of ARKA Motorsports won the INRC 3T category, finishing eighth overall. In INRC 2, Aditya Thakur of Chettinad Sporting and Philiposs Matthai of Duran Racing took the top two positions.
