Nashik, 26 February 2026: Fresh from sealing his maiden National overall title at Indore, TSI Racing’s Dean Mascarenhas of Mangaluru, along with co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah of Kodagu, will aim to sign off the season in style when the sixth and final round of the Blueband Sports FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship 2025 (INRC) gets underway here on Friday.
Meanwhile, TSI Racing’s teammates from Himachal Pradesh, Aditya Thakur and co-driver Virender Kashyap, who won the Indore round on MRF Tyres are looking for an encore.
The three-day tarmac rally, organised by the Western India Sports Association with seasoned Clerk of the Course Ashwin Pandit at the helm, has drawn a competitive field of 34 entries, including nine INRC3-spec cars and an international flavour with the husband-and-wife duo Raguvaran V and Chew Amanda from Singapore joining the fray.
Having wrapped up the coveted Overall crown in Indore, Mascarenhas is keen to cap his breakthrough season with another strong performance. “I am very happy to have clinched my maiden INRC overall title in Indore, but I am looking to up the game one more time and win this Rally to finish the season on a winning note,” said Mascarenhas, whose TSI Racing machine is backed by technical support from French outfit PH Sport and is shod with MRF Tyres.
While Mascarenhas and Karumbaiah ended the title aspirations of Arka Motorsports’ Karna Kadur and veteran co-driver Musa Sherif in the Overall standings, several class battles remain finely poised heading into the Nashik finale.
The INRC2 category promises a thrilling showdown, with Mangaluru’s Jason Saldanha along with co-driver Bengaluru’s PV Srinivasa Murthy, and Palakkad’s Fabid Ahmer (co-driver Milen George, Kottayam) separated by just two points, ensuring an intense fight to the finish. In INRC3, Kerala’s Vishakh Balachandran holds a commanding lead with 123 points, ahead of Hamirpur’s Sheshank Jamwal on 99.
The Junior INRC title race also remains alive, with Abhin Rai leading the standings on 137 points, followed by Snap Racing’s Abhimanyu on 112 with one rally to go. In the Ladies category, Shillong’s Phoebe Nongrum Dale leads with 129 points, while Dehradun’s Anushriya Gulati, buoyed by her win in Indore, has narrowed the gap to 107 with a maximum of 35 points still on offer in the Rally of Maharashtra.
Among the Classics, Bengaluru privateer Siddhartha Santosh has already secured the title with a round to spare, whereas in the Gypsy class, seasoned campaigner Sanjay Agarwal of Bengaluru heads the table ahead of Aneesh Sangma from Tura.
The rally will commence with a 2.1-km Super Special Stage on Friday, followed by six Special Stages on Saturday and three on Sunday. Competitors will tackle three physical stages, Poshera (9.44 km), Karoli (6.82 km) and the longer Kalamb (19.51 km), each to be run thrice on Saturday and twice on Sunday in the same direction, setting the stage for a fitting high-speed conclusion to the 2025 INRC season.
