INRC 3 at Coimbatore: Venunath V Wins, Jenu Johnson Second and Abishek Gowda Third
Venunath V and Sanath G won INRC 3, ahead of Jenu Johnson and Lenin Joseph in second and Abishek Gowda T C and Mahesh Nandi in third.
Photograph: FAB Rally School / Instagram / supplied to ViPeople- Class winner
- Venunath V / Sanath G
- Winner’s total
- 01:40:36.798
- Classified INRC 3 crews
- 17
- Class podium
- Venunath V / Sanath G · Jenu Johnson / Lenin Joseph · Abishek Gowda T C / Mahesh Nandi
- Overall class context
- Venu 13th overall
INRC 3 supplied one of the Rally of Coimbatore’s clearest class contests. Venunath V and Sanath G won in 01:40:36.798, Jenu Johnson and Lenin Joseph finished second in 01:41:21.733, and Abishek Gowda T C and Mahesh Nandi completed the podium in 01:41:27.404. The result also carried the Women’s and Junior battles and a deep group of crews through the weekend.
The class ran inside a fast, predominantly gravel rally that returned to its special stages repeatedly. The road was smooth and well prepared in places, then faster and more demanding once the cars began moving the loose surface. INRC 3 rewarded the crews who could keep the Polo settled, preserve the tyres and make the next service decision without losing the larger shape of the rally.
Venu and Sanath set the class reference
Car 21 finished thirteenth overall and won INRC 3 by 44.935 seconds. The total of 01:40:36.798 put Venunath V and Sanath G ahead of Jenu Johnson and Lenin Joseph, who finished second in class at 01:41:21.733. Abishek Gowda T C and Mahesh Nandi completed the podium at 01:41:27.404.
The class win was built over the completed eight-run timing sequence. The available official export records final aggregate times rather than a separate split for every crew on every stage, so the meaningful comparison is the total that survived the full route. Venu’s margin shows that the crew kept its pace intact while the class behind it changed shape.
A result built through training
FAB Rally School’s result post presents Venunath’s victory as the next stage of a training journey. The Coimbatore win gives that journey a national result: a class victory, a thirteenth-place overall finish and a margin that held through the complete timing sequence.
The top five in INRC 3
| Class pos | Car | Crew | Vehicle | Overall | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | Venunath V / Sanath G | Polo | 13 | 01:40:36.798 |
| 2 | 34 | Jenu Johnson / Lenin Joseph | Polo | 15 | 01:41:21.733 |
| 3 | 37 | Abishek Gowda T C / Mahesh Nandi | Polo | 16 | 01:41:27.404 |
| 4 | 95 | Tarushi Vikram / Athreya Kousgi | Polo | 17 | 01:42:25.254 |
| 5 | 22 | Shivani Pruthvi / Vinay Manjunath | Polo | 18 | 01:42:25.461 |
Jenu and Abishek kept the winning Polo under pressure. Tarushi Vikram and Athreya Kousgi finished fourth in the class, seventeenth overall, and added the Women’s and Junior classifications to their weekend. Chandan Manche Gowda and Suraj Keshava Prasad completed the top five, giving the class a compact front group even as the broader order stretched behind them.
Tarushi’s SS08 benchmark adds another layer
Tarushi Vikram and Athreya Kousgi’s result carried a stage-level distinction inside the final order. The official stage timing marks them as the fastest INRC 3 crew on SS08. Their fourth-place class finish and seventeenth overall position therefore sit alongside a late-rally performance marker that belongs in the class story.
The incidents changed the shape of the class
Arvind Dheerendra’s roll altered the early INRC 3 picture. Phoebe Dale and Shahid Salman worked through gearbox trouble and still finished inside the class, while other crews carried mechanical issues and the accumulated pressure of repeated gravel runs. Each problem moved the order and changed what a clean finish was worth.
That is why the class result should be read beside the overall classification. The winner was not isolated from the rest of the field. The top INRC 3 cars ran inside a national order containing new machinery, turbocharged competition and experienced crews from other categories. Their pace had to be good enough to matter everywhere, also inside the class table.
The depth behind the podium
The completed class included Polo crews with different experience levels, Women’s and Junior entries, a Masters competitor and drivers who were using Coimbatore to build a larger season. Hoshmand Elavia and Venu Rameshkumar V carried the Junior thread deeper into the order. Abdul Salam and Sushmith Panchajanyam, MJ Amjadh and Marimanavalan A P, and PS Nagendra and Akshay Rao kept the class running to the final classified places.
INRC 3 was won by one crew, though its meaning came from the number of crews who kept returning to the next stage.
ViPeople class reportWhat Coimbatore leaves the class
Venu and Sanath leave with the result everyone wants: a class win, a strong overall position and a margin that can be defended with the timing sheet. Jenu and Abishek leave with evidence that the gap is realistic. Tarushi leaves with a stage benchmark. The rest of the class leaves with the data that makes the next round worth watching.
