The Erode pair of Karthick Maruthi and navigator Sankar Anand took a one-second lead at the end of the first leg of the Ceat-Mahindra Monsoon Challenge TSD Rally that reached here Saturday after covering 375 km.
Heavy rains and broken tarmac sections added to the challenge for the 24 vehicles that were flagged-off from Bangalore early Saturday. After a night halt here, the rally will proceed to the finish at Mangalore Sunday.
The experienced Karthik and Anand tallied 28 seconds of penalty in the Pro-Expert class just ahead of Azgar Ali and Mohammad Musthafa (29 seconds) while tied in third place with 31 seconds each were Ganesh Murthy-Nagarajan and Abhijeet Pai-Satish Gopalkrishnan.
In the Pro Stock class, Dinky Varghese and Sakthivel, with a penalty of 59 seconds, were leading with Amarnath G.J. and Mokthiyar Ahmed (1:04 min) and Cheshta Sood and Prakash (1:07 min) in second and third place, respectively.
After the start from Bangalore, the competitors took the scenic route, touching Chikmagalur and the nearby tourist spots of Mulayangiri and Kemmangundi before arriving here in the evening.