Rainforest Challenge India 2026 kicks off in dramatic fashion

As per the Provisional Results for the ‘4x4 Extreme’ category on Day 1, following the completion of four out of 26 SS of the competition, Kranthi Kumar Vengala and co-driver Rajeev Lal PM from Team Hyderabad were placed at the top of the leaderboard with 355 points out of 400. Ujjal Namshum (co-driver Chethan Chengappa) from Manabhum Off-roader's Club Arunachal (MOCA) claimed the second spot with 334 points while Anand Manjooran (Vishnu Raj) from Kerala took the third spot with 331 points. Vishnu Santhosh (Rahul), representing 4x4 Beats, was in fourth position with 246 points and Viddesh Madgaonkar (Sahil Sadekar) from Team 4x4 Addictz Goa was at the fifth spot on the leaderboard. A total of 25 teams from across India are competing in the ‘4x4 Extreme’ category this year.

Scrutiny for the 16 teams competing in the ‘4x4 Modified’ category was also completed today and their competition is set to begin tomorrow. SS 1 set an unforgiving tone for the competition. Featuring three separate winching points, the stage was especially tough for those teams who arrived without adequate preparation or final mechanical checks.

The overwhelming majority of retirements on that particular SS were due to winch failures at these critical points, turning what should have been a technical challenge into a stage of attrition. Only competitors running well-maintained winches and lighter-weight rigs were able to see the stage through.

 SS 2 offered a marginally easier profile, with two winching points instead of three, but introduced a fresh complication: the absence of trees meant teams had to rely on ground anchors, and the first group of competitors struggled to identify usable points. Once the early groups worked out the technique, the teams behind them moved through more smoothly.

The stage was also defined by extensive water-wading sections, with vehicles submerged deep enough that only their roofs remained visible above the waterline. With two winching points and a high-speed run of roughly 80 metres, most of the competitors cleared SS 3 without major incident. SS 4 also featured two winching points requiring ground anchors.

 Day 1 at RFC India has long been less about outright speed and more about survival, giving competitors their only real-world chance all year to properly understand the vehicles they have built. This year, the driver and co-driver coordination held up well on Day 1, but the physical toll on co-drivers emerged as one of the day's defining storylines, with the repeated use of heavy ground anchors — detached, carried to each winching point and dug in by hand — proving exhausting enough to factor into several teams failing to complete their stages.

Heavier-than-usual rainfall compounded the difficulty throughout the day, reducing visibility for drivers and raising water levels across the wading sections, particularly in SS 2. The conditions added a further layer of difficulty to a day that was one of the most demanding starts in recent RFC India history.