INRC 2016: Kadur inches closer to title with India Rally win; Takale winner in IRC

The tussle for the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship's penultimate round at Chikmagalur as well as the INRC drivers' title may have been all but decided after Team Yokohama 2K's Karna Kadur won the Coffee Day India Rally ahead of Dr. Bikku Babu and teammate Rahul Kantharaj after Mahindra Adventure's Amittrajit Ghosh was forced to limp through today's stages with an apparent mechanical issue on his XUV 5OO.

The other XUV 5OO of Sunny Sidhu would have finished third if not for a driveshaft failure that delayed him from being able to reach the event service park in the designated time.

One round of the INRC remains as the K-1000 in Bangalore on December 17-18 will be the conclusion to a season that saw national rallying return to North India and the introduction of shakedown prior to competitive stages.

Kadur was also classified as the INRC 2000 class winner while Jacob KJ won the FMSCI Cup category of the event.

Sanjay Aggarwal was the winner in the non-championship Gypsy Cup class.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS (after leg 2)

INRC Overall:1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (Team Yokohama 2K) 1hr. 32min. 13.8sec.2. Dr Bikku Babu / Milen George 01:33:38.23. Rahul Kantharaj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama 2K) 01:34:51.9 

INRC 2000:1. Karna Kadur / Nikhil Pai (Team Yokohama 2K) 01:32:13.82. Dr Bikku Babu / Milen George (01:33:38.2)3. Rahul Kantharaj / Vivek Bhatt (Team Yokohama 2K) 01:34:51.9

FMSCI Cup:1. Jacob KJ / Manoj Mohanan 02:01:14.82. Minchu Ganapathy / Venu Ramesh Kumar 02:01:25.83. Fabid Ahmer / Arjun Dheerendra 02:06:06.7

IRC:1. Sanjay Takale / Noriko Takeshita (Cusco Racing) 01:48:59.22. Ritesh M Guttedar / Sheeraz Ahmed 02:01:12.33. Byram Godrej / Ninad Mirajgaonkar 02:02:47.5 

Gypsy Star (non-championship):1. Sanjay Agarwal /Smitha N 02:09:53.32. Avin Nanjappa / Suraj Shetti 02:17:36.13. Dheeraj KV / Ravi 02:39:03.7