Stage set for Indu Chandhok Memorial 48th South India Rally

There is plenty of action on offer as reigning National champion Karna Kadur (co-driver Musa Sherif) heads a 21-strong FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship promoted by Vamcy Merla (Asia Cup) grid that features a Hyundai i20 and Maruti Suzuki Fronx for the first time, in the
three-day event that is part of the Indu Chandhok Memorial 48th South India Rally to be run in and around the Madras International Circuit,
Sriperumbudur, from April 25 to 27.

Also running concurrently is the first round of the Blueband Fmsci Indian
National Rally Championship 2025 powered by Vamcy Merla which has attracted 52 entries, including those competing in the APRC segment while a new class, the INRC 3T for turbocharged cars will be making a bow in the
championship. Organisers Madras Motor Sports Club have left no stone unturned to prepare135 kilometres of fast, flowing and yet technical Special Stages mostly made up of gravel and the average speeds are expected to be quite high. The event will commence on Friday afternoon with a ceremonial flag-off ceremony at the MIC.

It will be a landmark moment in the National Rally scene with the Hyundai
i20 making its debut. Prepared by Coimbatore-based JA Motorsports, the i20 will be driven by Hyderabad’s Jeet Jabhakh (co-driver V Sekar).

Similarly, two Maruti Suzuki Fronx will be seen in action for the first
time. Falkon Motorsports team’s C Ramcharan from Coimbatore, and
Hyderabad’s Naveen Puligilla, fresh from winning the WRC3 class in the
Kernya Safari, a round of the FIA World Rally Championship, will be
piloting the Fronx cars.

The highly competitive APRC field includes a lone lady participant in
Anushriya Gulati, a versatile driver from Uttarakhand who will be partnered by her regular co-driver Karan Aukta from Himachal Pradesh. Gulati, buoyed by a victory in the Thailand championship recently, will be looking forward to completing the South India Rally where she had non-finishes in her previous two attempts.

The MMSC has instituted the “Indu Chandhok Rolling Trophy” for the overall winner of the South India Rally annually. Incidentally, he himself was the first winner of the South India Rally in 1953 driving a Triumph Mayflower.