Dean Mascarenhas wins second round of 2025 INRC at Coimbatore

Round 2 of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) 2025 took place in Coimbatore from July 25 to July 27 and it was Dean Mascarenhas (co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah) who bagged the overall win in the INRC and INRC1 class. He was followed by Karna Kadur (co-driver Musa Sherif), who finished second in the INRC and INRC1 class, and Aditya Thakur (co-driver Virender Kashyap) who completed the podium for the Rally of Coimbatore.

Mascarenhas was driving a newly-imported left-hand-drive Peugeot 208 Rally 4, winning 7 of the 9 Special Stages in the rally, which was held on the dirt stages near Kari Motor Speedway. Speaking about the Peugeot, Mascarenhas said, “We missed the first round, and this is the debut of our new Peugeot 208 Rally 4, imported from Europe. There are still four more rallies, and we are learning to adapt, taking one step at a time.”

Meanwhile, it was Jason Saldanha (co-driver PV Srinivas Murthy) who posted the fastest time in the INRC2 class. Fabid Ahmer (co-driver Milen George Cherian) finished second in the category, with Philippos Matthai (co-driver Harish KN) finishing in third. The INRC 3T class on the other hand was won by Jeet Jhabakh (co-driver V Sekar), while Dr. Akarsh Sundar (co-driver Arjun SSB) finished in second place. Ramcharan (co-driver Vignesh Mahalingam) finished in third place and completed the podium for the INRC 3T class.

Sheshank Jamwal (co-driver Raghuram Saminathan) claimed the win in the INRC3 category, with Jagbir Singh Nirwan (co-driver Kranpreet Singh Mattu) and Aniruddha Rangnekar (co-driver A G Somayya) finishing second and third in the category, respectively. The JINRC class was won by Abhin Rai (co-driver Moideen Jasheer) and Abhimanyu Sajeevan (co-driver Vijay Anand) finished in second place.

Finishing third in the JINRC category was Aditya Kousgi (co-driver Deeksha Balakrishna). Anushriya Gulati (co-driver Karan Aukta) led the charge in the Women Class, followed by Tarushi Vikram (co-driver Vybhav Mukund Rao) and Phoebe Nongrum (co-driver Nash Ross) who finished in second and third place respectively.

The Classic Challenge was won by Siddartha Santhosh (co-driver Sawan Sathyanarayan), with Satish P (co-driver Rishikesh KR) finishing in second position. The Gypsy Challenge however, was won by Aneesh Sangma (co-driver Dinky Varghese), with the podium for the category completed by Sanjay Agarwal (co-driver Dheeraj Manae) and Kariappa Mekerira (co-driver Abhinav Ganapathy), who finished in second and third place, respectively. Round 3 of the INRC 2025 will take all of the action to Hyderabad, and the third round of the championship is scheduled to be held from October 10 to October 12. Stay tuned for more such motorsport updates on our social handles!