Gaurav Gill Dominates Day 1 of 49th South India Rally at Madras International Circuit

Chennai, April 17, 2026: Gaurav Gill made a sensational return to competitive rallying after a year-long break, topping the time sheets on Day 1 of the 49th South India Rally at the Madras International Circuit on Friday.

The three-day rally, which serves as Round 2 of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and the opening round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, witnessed a dominant display from the seasoned Delhi driver.

Piloting a Volkswagen Polo, Gill, a three-time APRC champion and seven-time national title holder, clocked a combined time of 2 minutes, 51.5 seconds across two loops of the 1.45 km dirt Super Special Stage. He finished 5.1 seconds ahead of arch rival Karna Kadur in the APRC category, while Mangaluru’s Jason Saldanha secured third place.

Gill, paired with experienced co-driver Srikanth Gowda for the first time, also led the INRC standings, maintaining a 4.1-second advantage over local challenger Ritesh Rai, with Kadur in third.

Speaking after the stage, Gill expressed satisfaction with his comeback performance. “It was a good start and I’m happy to be back doing what I love. The team did a fantastic job preparing the car in a short time. Driving the Polo competitively for the first time and working with a new co-driver makes this result even more encouraging,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kadur faced multiple technical setbacks, including a restart delay and communication issues with co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy. “Not the ideal start, but there’s still a long way to go,” he noted.

In other categories, Bengaluru’s Arun Y Mavaji topped INRC 2, while Arvind Dheerendra led INRC 3. Tarushi Vikram emerged as the fastest in both the Ladies and Junior INRC categories, continuing her impressive run.