JOIN USTeam MRF’s Lohit Urs were 16 seconds off the pace of the leader in second while team-mate Arjun Balu had to settle for a third place finish.
Amittrajit Ghosh of RRR, who is in second place on the INRC table, crashed out of the race in the third stage.
In the 1600cc class, Joseph C Jos and co-driver Royce Kizhakoodan crossed the line in a time of one hour, 52 seconds to come in first place while Sujay (1:01.37) and Rahul Kanthraj (1:02.15) took the second and third place, respectively.
Results (leg 1): 2000cc: Vikram Mathias/ PVS Murthy (Red Rooster Racing) (56mins, 30 secs) 1; Lohit Urs/ Shrikant Gowda (Team MRF) (56:46) 2; Arjun Balu/Sujith Kumar BS (Team MRF) (57:04) 3. 1600cc: Joseph C Jos/ Royce Kizhakoodan (DDL Sports) (1:00.52) 1; Sujay Suresh/ Varun Satyanarayan (DDL Sports) (1:01.37) 2; Rahul Kanthraj/ Vivek Bhatt (1:02.15) 3. 1400cc: Vikram Devadasen/ Nikhil Pai (1:01.12) 1; Byram Godrej/ Raymond D’Souza (01:02.22) 2; Shailendar Hegde/ Shreraz Ahmed (1:03.17) 3.