Coimbatore, June 29 Coimbatore played host to the first round of a national motor rally on Sunday.

India's ace formula one driver Narain Karthikeyan giving away the prizes at the motor rally named 'India National Rally Championship - 2009'.

The first round saw 65 participants from all over the country.

Amittrajit Ghosh of Red Rooster Racing Team won the first round.

"Winning is nice obviously when its your first rally win. I have not won an overall rally so far so it's obviously special winning your first rally," said Ghosh.

The rally is conducted in six stages at Coimbatore, Bangalore and Chikmanglur, Kolkata and Nasik with the final round at Shimla in December. (ANI)