Blueband Indian National Rally Championship 2025

Mangalore-Kodagu duo of Dean Mascarenhas and co-driver KS Karumbaiah made a winning debut for Team Sidvin India Racing, clinching victory in the Blueband Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the six-round Blueband  Indian National Rally Championship 2025 that concluded here on Saturday.
Promoted by Blueband Sports and organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, the National rally witnessed intense competition across the nine special stages over 116km of competitive distance.
Behind the wheel of a newly imported, left-hand-drive rally spec Peugeot 208, Mascarenhas started Sunday with intent, winning the first special stage and closely fending off a determined challenge from Bengaluru’s Karna Kadur, the defending overall champion. As the day progressed, Mascarenhas held his nerve, built on his overnight lead, and sealed victory with a total time of 1 hour, 29 minutes, and 09.4 seconds.
The battle for second place was a thriller, with Arka Motorsports’ Kadur and experienced Musa Sherif, into his 33rd year of co-driving, edging out Sidvin’s Aditya Thakur and Virendra Kashyap by just 1.1 second. Thakur, the 2019 overall INRC champion, lost crucial time in the day’s second stage and eventually had to settle for the third position on the podium.
Fierce competition across INRC categories
In the INRC 2 category, Arka Motorsports’ Bengaluru pair Jason Saldanha and PV Srinivasa Murthy topped the timesheets with a strong finish at 1:31:16.4, holding off a spirited charge from Fabid Ahmer and co-driver Milen George of Chettinad Sporting. Arka’s consistent run continued with Philippos Matthai and Harish KN Gowda securing third place. The INRC 3 class saw a solid win for privateer duo Sheshank Jamwal of Himachal, who combined with local co-driver Raghuram Saminathan , followed by Arka’s Jagbir Nirwan and Kranpreet Singh Mattu, while Chettinad’s Aniruddh Rangnekar and AG Somayya upped the pace today to get on to the podium.

The 3T category was won by Jeet Jhabakh and V Sekar, while in the Classic class, Siddartha Santhosh and Sawan Sathyanarayan led the field. The Gypsy class produced an exciting contest, with Aneesh Sangma and Dinky Varghese K emerging fastest as overnight leader Sanjay Agarwal and Dheeraj Manae had mechanical issues and finished second.
In the Women’s category, Anushriya Gulati and Karan Aukta delivered a composed drive to claim victory for Arka Motorsports while behind them rookie Tarushi Vikram of Chikkamagaluru did a commendable job and was just 9 seconds behind as she overtook Phoebe, into second place. Meanwhile, in the Junior INRC division, Abin Rai and Moideen Jasheer stood out with the top time of 1:35:11.4, narrowly ahead of the Snap Racing pairs who took second and third.
We are proud to see such close competition and high-calibre driving from all the teams,” said Premnath K, promoter of Blueband Sports. “This season is shaping up to be one of the most thrilling in recent memory, and Coimbatore lived up to its reputation as a rally that tests both skill and strategy.”