Robusta Rally returns to Coorg's coffee estates, Nov 20 to 22

The title fight arrives in coffee country

The Indian National Rally Championship heads to Kodagu this weekend. The Robusta Rally runs from November 20 to 22 across the Tata Coffee estates near Pollibetta in South Coorg, organised by Robusta Adventure and Sports Academy as part of the BlueBand FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship calendar for 2026.

This is not a dune bash or a weekend club trail run. INRC cars run timed special stages on closed estate roads, with FMSCI scrutineers, medical cover and marshals at every junction. It is the legal, organised end of the sport that every Thar owner idling at a Coorg checkpost should know exists, and it is open to spectators who stand where marshals tell them to.

When the rally last came to Kodagu in 2023, it marked a return after 15 years away, the previous Rally de Coorg having run in 2008. Promoter Premnath K called it an effort to "rejuvenate the Rally scene in Coorg." A year later, in 2024, Arjuna Awardee Gaurav Gill won the Robusta Rally for a second year running, beating 61 entries across four stages, Anandapura, Pollibetta, Woshully and Margolly, inside the same coffee plantations that host this year's event.

How the season has gone so far

Heading into Coorg, the 2026 fight is between two names Indian rally fans know well. Karna Kadur, with co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy, opened the season by winning the South India Rally at the Madras International Circuit in Chennai in April, a round where Gaurav Gill himself returned to the INRC after a year away but retired with a mechanical problem.

Kadur did not have it his own way for long. At the Rally of Coimbatore in September, Dean Mascarenhas and co-driver Gagan Karumbaiah held off a fast-charging Kadur to win by just 23.482 seconds, with 64 cars entered across 110.80 km of gravel stages. Jason Saldanha, also of Arka Motorsports, took the final podium spot.

That narrow margin in Coimbatore is why Coorg matters. Kadur arrives chasing a fourth INRC title and needs to close the gap. Mascarenhas arrives on a high after his first INRC win of the year. Four-time podium regulars Arka Motorsports, AART Motorsports and Duran Racing are expected to field multiple cars across classes.

Why Coorg, and how to follow it from South India

For readers in Bengaluru, Mysuru or Kozhikode, Coorg is close enough to drive to for a day. Spectator areas are marked by the organisers near the stage starts, and the usual rule applies: stay behind the tape, never cross a live stage, and never park on the road the cars are using. None of this is open to the public to drive on afterwards. The Tata Coffee estate roads are private property opened for the event under FMSCI permit, not a free-for-all trail.

For South India's 4x4 clubs, rallies like this are a reminder of where organised, permitted motorsport sits next to the grassroots off-roading this desk usually covers, same coffee country, same Kodagu hills that groups like Coorg Challengers run trail days in, but a completely different, licensed discipline. Results and stage times are expected to be posted on FMSCI's channels once the rally finishes on November 22.

Sources

• BlueBand FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship
• Dean Mascarenhas wins Rally of Coimbatore
• Karna Kadur wins 2026 South India Rally
• Dean Macarenhas wins Round 2 of INRC 2026 in Coimbatore
• INRC returns to Kodagu after a gap of 15 years
• Back to Back wins for Gaurav Gill