Bengaluru, Apr 4 (IANS): Talented Indian driver Karna Kadur makes his maiden foray into the international field along with experienced co-driver Musa Sherif as the duo spearhead five Indian teams at the first round of the prestigious Thailand National Rally Championship 2024 on Saturday and Sunday at Chachoengsao Province in eastern Thailand.

On the invitation of Toyota Racing, a division of TCD Asia (Toyota customising and development), the two-time National Overall Champion Karna Kadur of Bengaluru will be joining ‘Team Fast Forward Sport’ along with seven-time National Overall co-driver champion Musa Sherif from Kasargod.

The Team Fast Forward Sport also has one of the top Thailand drivers Mana Pornsiricherd and co-driver Kittisak Klinchan, who also took a podium in the APRC round at Chennai in 2023. Both these pairs will be behind the wheel of a Toyota C-HR AP4 machine in the top RC1 Class.

“We are very happy to have received this call from TCD Thailand to drive the Toyota CHR alongside Mana san for the first round of the Thai National Rally Championship. We are looking forward to our first international outing together and can’t wait to get on to the stages,” said Karna Kadur, who has multiple Indian titles in the sub-categories apart from the three National overall titles.

Karna has recently partnered with Musa Sherif, who boasts of over 300 caps and is the senior-most rally co-driver from India and has many successful international outings to his credit.

The other popular Indian pair of Dhruva Chandrashekar and top co-driver P.V.S. Murthy will also be part of the Team Fast Forward Sport but driving a Suzuki Swift in the 2.3 Class.

The rally will also witness the 2023 reigning champions in the 2w drive class, Jason Saldanha and co-driver Thimmanna Uddapanda, the first Indians to win a title in the Thailand championship which saw the participation of drivers from Malaysia, and Japan, besides the Thai drivers.

The Mangalore-Coorg duo will be driving a Suzuki Swift 1.6L six-speed, in the 2.3 class for ‘Team Insight & Ally’ which also has a lady driver in Anushriya Gulati, who pairs with co-driver Karan Aukta in the other Suzuki Swift.

Sanam Sekhon and co-driver Hitesh Sharma also in a Suzuki Swift in 2.3 Class will complete the Indian line-up. The hot and humid conditions and unknown dusty roads will throw a big challenge for the Indians making the competition much more interesting.

There will be five Special Stages totalling to a timed competitive distance of 72.84km and along with the liaison, the total distance of the rally extends to 146.44km. The top event in Thailand has attracted a health 55 cars, including five from India.

The three physical stages will be K45 Sportsland (13.5km), Sanam Chai Khet Forest Park (13km) and Chacheongsao Rubber Research Centre (16.67km). The last two Special Stages will be run twice on Sunday followed by the podium ceremony in the evening.