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Category: Non-F1
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Arjun Rao Aroor’s dream punctured; Naren lifts title
Chandigarh, 23 October 2005: Arjun Rao Aroor and trusted co-driver Chandramouli were on the verge of winning the Rally de North before a puncture, destroyed their dream of winning the rally. With just 5km to the end of the last stage, the Karnataka pair had a flat tyre and the Team MRF’s duo, lost not just 41 seconds but the overall title. Celebrated champion VR Naren Kumar of Team JK Tyre was not the one to miss a chance and the Coimbatore speed diva clinched the the HPCL Power M1 Challenge Rally, the fourth round of the Motorsports Association of India (MAI)’s Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which concluded at Kalagram on Sunday.
Naren, despite suffering from a viral infection, did everything along with co-driver Ramkumar to clinch the issue as he had to did deep into his reserves and rely on his considerable experience of Ram, to emerge the winner. Aroor and Chandramouli had the consolation of bagging the overall third place.
Trailing Aroor and co-driver Chandramouli overnight by 10 seconds, Naren Kumar and co-driver Ramkumar made six seconds on the first special stage of the day, over 10.14-km run at Kanda in the Shivalik Hills. Aroor was also docked a penalty of 90 minutes for reporting to service park, nine minutes late after the last stage. This meant team-mate Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy leapfrog into the second position, ahead of Aroor. Naren completed the rally in 2 hours 7 minutes and 20 seconds, while Balu came home in 2:9.13 and Aroor in 2:9.22.
Earlier, Team MRF’s Karandip Singh and Jaidas Menon were excluded from the competition for a technical violation, and were not permitted to start on the second day.
Both Arjun Balu and Arjun Rao Aroor maintained their momentum in the super special stage, the concluding stage of the rally in Kalagram, finishing first and second, with timings of 2.18 and 2.19 minutes, respectively. Naren could only manage 2.23 minutes.
The 1400 cc saw Prithveen Rajan and PVS Murthy winning the title with a timing of 2:13.09, followed by Philipose Mathai and Ashwyn Naik in second place.
Local driver Sunny Siddhu drove away with the honours in the Gypsy Class with a timing of 2:12.16, which also placed him in fifth place overall, a creditable showing that earned him much applause from the home crowd at the podium finish.
The Rally Star Cup also saw the emergence of new talent in Chetan Shivram and Rupesh Kholay, who finished on top in their category with a timing of 2:13.11.
Provisional Final results: Overall: 1. Naren Kumar/ Ramkumar (Team JK, Baleno) (2hour, 7min, 20sec,); 2. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Baleno) (2:9.13); 3. Arjun Rao Aroor/ Chandramouli (2:9.22); 4. Vikram Mathais/ Sujith Kumar (Team MRF, Baleno) (2:10.16); 5. Sunny Siddhu/HS Bawa (Gypsy) (2:12.16); 6. Prithveen Rajan/ PVS Murthy (Esteem) (2:13.09).
1400cc class: 1. Prithveen Rajan/ PVS Murthy (2:13.09); 2. Philipose Mathai/ Ashwyn Naik (2:13.11); 3. Ravi Agarwal/Prakash D’Souza (Esteem) (2:27.38).
Gypsy Cup: 1. Sunny Siddhu/ HS Bawa (2:12.16); 2, Sandeep Sharma/Kulbir Singh (2:13.38); Kanwar/ Vijay Vir Singh 2:16.38.
Rally Star Cup: 1. Chetan Shivram /Rupesh Kholay (2:13.11); 2. Girishankar Joshy/ Srikanth GM (2:14.28); 3. Anil Wadia / CK Chinappa (2:19.04).
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Vijaykumar falls to CS Santosh; Bengalurean wins both motos
Vadodara, 23 October 2005: TVS Racing team dominated the 3rd round of the MRF National Supercross Championship by taking top honours in all of the Six Championship classes of the races held in Vadodra’s Akota Stadium, on Sunday. For once the reigning champion C Vijaykumar of TVS Racing fell behind his fellow rider C. S. Santosh who proved supreme by taking top honours in both motos of the prestigious ‘Foreign Open class’. He collected the maximum 40 points and earned ‘The Best Rider of the Day’ title.
The day began with the First moto of the Indian Experts Foreign Motorcycle where C Vijaykumar of TVS Racing managed to take an early lead till C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing with great dexterity overtook the former to emerge top in a thrilling finish. The 15 year old Karan Kadam who is riding for the first time this season for TVS Racing came a close 3rd. The second moto too saw a similar fight till Vijaykumar taking a fall, which put him in 3rd behind Santosh and Karan Kadam.
The group B Indian Experts upto 150 CC 2-Stroke was no battle for C. Vijaykumar of TVS Racing except for the strong performance by C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing who closely came behind the former. Veteran motocross expert, Rustom Patel came a distant 3rd.
In the stock class of vehicles or in other words motorcycles without any modification; Syed Zubair of TVS Racing proved his class by taking honours in the Indian Experts Group D 80 CC to 110 CC in his TVS Victor. TVS Racing dominated this class with all the three podium positions going to the team. Deepak John of TVS Racing took top honours in the Indian Experts Group D 125 CC to 160 CC in his TVS Fiero F2.
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HPCL Power M1 Challenge, INRC Round 4, from Oct 21
Chandigarh, 14 October 2005: All eyes will be on top rallyists and National-level drivers from the city, Karandip Singh and Sunny Sidhu, as the cream of talent in motorsports field descends on the city for the three-day 3rd HPCL Power M1 Challenge 2005 rally, a round of the Indian National Rally Championship here next week-end. This is the only national event to be held in the city and the rally will be flagged off from Fun Republic in Mani Majra at 3 pm on October 21.
Leading the pack will be Asia Zone rally champion and four-time Indian national champion Naren Kumar, current championship leader Arjun Balu and defending champion Vikram Mathais. The speed devils will showcase thier machines and test their skills on narrow and treacherous gravel mountain tracks of Garkhal, Subathu, Vatnaghat and Solan.
Aiming to participate in Asia Pacific Rally Championship, MRF driver Karandip, the national champion of 2000, will participate in 1600 cc class while member of J K Tyres team with Jaidas Menon as navigatore while Sunny Sidhu will compete in Gypsy class. The entries for the rally, would be capped at 30 and the last date is October 17, said an organiser. The Super Special Stage (SSS) will be at Kalagram grounds after flag-off. After that the rally cars would compete on a two-km long challenging track in front of local crowd from close quarters as part of SSS. The event will conclude on October 23 at Kalagram.
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Naren Kumar- Ramkumar win Bosch 31st K1000 Rally
Bangalore, 14 Aug 2005: Four-time National champion Naren Kumar with talented navigator Ramkumar conquered the Mico Bosch 31st K1000 Rally, the 3rd round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), which concluded here on Sunday.
The duo now under the colours of Team JK Tyre stole the thunder once again leaving behind the disappointment of a disqualification in the previous Mysore round and proved their talent to take the overall top honours. The JK Team’s reentry into the national rally scene after a gap of over five years has rekindled considerable excitement bringing back the memories of big fights with the Reds in the late nineties.
After trailing overnight by 13 seconds, Naren Kumar stepped up the gas going all out in aggressive fashion to overtake overnight leaders Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon of MRF, and won the rally with a comfotable margin of 17 seconds.
(Results not available)
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Arjun Balu-Kumar Ramaswamy clinch Mysore Safari Rally
Mysore, 29 May 2005: Talented Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy of Team MRF Tyres notched up a deserving victory in the Mysore Safari Rally, the second round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Sunday.
Arjun Balu defeated teammates and local star Lohith Urs, and the other two MRF drivers Arjun Rao Aroor and Karandip Singh. All the MRF drivers were in Maruti Balenos. Jiby Malliakkal and co-driver Nikhil Pai of Team Gulf Chettinad Sporting finished fifth in their Honda City VTec. Other prominent finishers were privateers Rahul Kantharaj and co-driver Vivek Bhat and Ranjit Ballal, also in Balenos.
Sanjay Agarwal won the 1400cc class after leader Prithveen Rajan who was ahead by 9 seconds on Saturday, lost almost 23 seconds later in the day, due to a mistake at a tricky corner and Sanjay never looked back to win the rally, safely finishing the Super Special on Sunday. Philippos Matthai finished third. Chethan won the Rally Star Cup with Girijashankar Joshy taking the second spot.
The rally organised by Prosports and Motorsport Inc, had 21 entries in various classes and saw a clutch of protests and disqualifications after the thrilling Super Special Stage that was reserved for Sunday.
The rally also marked the return of `Yellow Giants’ with the 1600cc class witnessing JK Tyre teams with lead drivers Naren Kumar (co-driver Ramkumar) and Vikram Mathias (along with Sujith Kumar) behind the wheels. The former champions who both drove earlier for MRF are now in the yellow colours of JK Tyre.
Both the champion drivers displayed their skills and thrilled the crowds but were unfortunate to be disqualified as they were found to be running on rear suspension mounts that failed to pass the scrutiny and were found not as per the technical regulations. Both the cars were prepared by ace tuner N Leelakrishnan. Ironically, winner Arjun Balu’s car too was prepared by Leela’s team.
The 1400cc lineup had last year’s champion Pritveen E Rajan, Sanjay Aggarwal, Philipose Mathai, and the rest of the field was Rally Star Cup guys and with two Gypsies thrown in.
The gravel rally with fast tracks ran through four Special Stages (SS) which were repeated thrice on Saturday and Day 2, Sunday was reserved for two laps of the Super Special Stage (SSS) near Lalit Mahal Palace grounds.
Earlier on Friday, the Ceremonial flag-off was held at the Mysore Palace Grounds and all the Rally cars proceeded to the rally headquarters at Kadur Inn, in a parade. The rally started on Saturday at 8.30 am from Kadur Inn with the first stage run at Bilikere and the second stage at Hosapura, where the JK cars driven by Naren Kumar and Vikram Mathias dominated and showcased their skills to thrill the crowds, especially at the third stage in Marur.
Alas it was the superfast fourth stage which was thrilling and provided seat-edged excitement for the spectators, before it was cancelled. The fine gravel stage at Nigudanahalli village saw both Naren and Vikram touch speeds of over 120kmph. Since the INRC rules prohibit speeds over 110kmph, the stage was declared as transport section for the later cars.
Naren was leading all through Saturday until he hit a cow in the last stage and Vikram took the lead with about 3km to go. The yellow car was completely smashed. Naren re-entered the SSS on Sunday in the Super Rally format and clocked the fastest time to entertain the huge audience. Vikram was second fastest in the Super Special. However, the spectator control left much to be desired at the Super Special Stage.
Lohith Urs, who was running in second place in the overall standings till then on Saturday, also made a mistake, and Arjun Balu shot into the overall lead.
In 1400 class, a big fight was brewing between Pritveen Rajan, Sanjay Aggarwal and Philippos Matthai. But gradually Matthai yielded way and faded away as Rajan took a 9-second lead. However, it was Sanjay Aggarwal who had the last laugh with Rajan making a crucial mistake at one corner to lose 23 seconds.
The results were announced late in the night and the Prize Distribuiton (PD) was held after a four-hour delay only at 11.30pm at Kadur Inn.
Provisional Final Classification:
Overall: 1. Arjun Balu (Team MRF); 2. Lohit Urs (Team MRF); 3. Arjun Aroor Rao (Team MRF); 4. Karandip Singh (Team MRF); 5. Jiby Malliakkal (Team Gulf Chettinad Sporting);
1400cc class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal; 2. Pritveen E Rajan; 3. Philippos Matthai.
Rally Star Cup: 1. Chetan; 2. Girijashankar Joshy.
(Note: The results were compiled and were not the official version)
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CS Santosh, Eathasham share honours; Vijaykumar keeps lead
Pune, 15 May 2005: TVS Racing team continued its dominance at the second round of the MRF National Supercross Championship by winning 4 and sharing honours in the foreign open class among the total of 6 Championship classes held in floodlit Pune’s Deccan College Ground, today. The foreign open class points were shared between C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing and Yamaha’s Syed Eathasham. The reigning champion C Vijaykumar of TVS Racing continues to lead the championship in the prestigious ‘Foreign Open class’ with 70 points closely followed by C. S. Santosh with 67 and Yogesh Barguje of Yamaha with 60 points.
The day began with the First moto of the Indian Experts Foreign Motorcycle where C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing inspite of having a poor start managed to overcome other riders and emerged victorious with a huge lead. Syed Eathasham of Yamaha racing managed to hold on to his second position though C. Vijaykumar nearly threatened him. Vijaykumar finished third in a well fought battle. The second moto of the race saw a change in fortunes with Syed Eathasham managing to take an early lead and maintain it till the end. Full credit to Santosh to reach second as he was last in the rung till about 5 laps. He zipped past others to emerge a close second. Vijaykumar could manage only a third.
In the stock class of vehicles or in other words motorcycles without any modification; C. D Jinan of TVS Racing proved his class once again by taking honours in the Indian Experts Group D 80 CC to 110 CC in his TVS Victor and the Indian Experts Group D 125 CC to 160 CC in his TVS Fiero. TVS Racing dominated both these races with all the three podium positions going to the team.
The group B Indian Experts upto 150 CC 2-Stroke saw a four-way battle between Syed Eathasham, Yogesh Barguje, C. Vijaykumar and C. Santosh. Syed Eathasham proved his class by take the top spot. Vijaykumar of TVS Racing, had to pull back due to technical problem with his bike. C. S. Santosh of TVS Racing capitalized on this and emerged second followed by Yogesh Barguje of Yamaha.
In the Novice class upto 150 cc; Syed Zubbair of TVS Racing in his Shogun fought it out to win the first spot as he continued his winning spree from the first round held at Goa. Mohammad Azgar of Yamaha closely followed him.
The local class saw some interesting fight between Pinkesh Thakker and Sunil Mohite; though the former managed to maintain his lead till the end. Vishal Barguje managed third.
Editor’s Note: This article is manually migrated from archives on 30 July 2023.
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Vijaykumar bags double in top class; TVS Racing Sweeps MRF National Supercross
Panjim (Goa), 8 May 2005: TVS Racing team dominated the first round of the MRF National Supercross Championship by winning Five of the Six Championship classes of the races held in Panjim’s Campal Parade Ground, today. Ace rider and the reigning champion C Vijaykumar of TVS Racing proved his class in the presence of a huge Sunday morning crowd by dominating both the Motos of the prestigious ‘Foreign Open class’. He came first in both the Motos taking his point tally to 40 and also earned ‘The Best Rider of the Day’ title.
The day began with the First moto of the Indian Experts Foreign Motorcycle where C Vijaykumar of TVS Racing managed to take an early lead, which he maintained and consolidated till the end. Yogesh Barguje of Yamaha Racing and C. S Santosh of TVS Racing who came 2nd and 3rd respectively battled it out as the latter almost edged out the former in the final bend. The second moto of the race saw a repeat performance with C Vijaykumar emerging clear winner followed by Barguje and Santosh who took the 2nd and 3rd spot.
In the stock class of vehicles or in other words motorcycles without any modification; C. D Jinan of TVS Racing proved his class by taking honours in the Indian Experts Group D 80 CC to 110 CC in his TVS Victor. TVS Racing dominated this class with all the three podium positions going to the team. Jinan also took the honours in the Indian Experts Group D 125 CC to 160 CC in his TVS Fiero F2.
The group B Indian Experts upto 150 CC 2-Stroke saw a four-way battle between Syed Eathasham, Yogesh Barguje, C. Vijaykumar and C. Santosh. Though Santosh looked very promising he fell back to the 4th position in a tangle between the riders. In the end Syed Eathasham managed to emerge 1st. Yogesh and Vijaykumar took the 2nd and 3rd spot respectively. This was the only class where Yamaha managed to take the top spot.
In the Novice class upto 150 cc; Syed Zubbair of TVS Racing in his Shogun fought it out to win the first spot. He was closely followed by Yamaha’s Joshua Pramod and S. Arun of TVS Racing.
The local class saw some interesting fight between Gordon Furtado and Mohmad Kadar with the latter taking lead till the penultimate lap. Kadar’s bike hit a technical snag and gave way for Gordon. Imtiaz Kadar came a distant second followed by Fidle Furtado who took the third spot.
Note: This article is manually migrated from the archives on 22 June 2021.
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Sandeep Sharma wins first Tura Challenge: INRC
By George Francis
Tura (Meghalaya), 13 March 2005: Sandeep Sharam and co-driver Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from New Delhi started the MAI (Motorsports Association of India ) INRC (Indian National Rally Championship) 2005, with an emphatic overall victory.
Driving a Maruti Gypsy, the veteran Sandeep took his maiden victory in a National Championship Rally overall today. “This is the moment I have been waiting for the past 14 years and I quite didn’t expect it here. I am thrilled,” remarked Sandeep after finishing the last stage of the day. Sandeep also won the top spot in the Gypsy Class, a new class introduced in the Championship last year, that has seen many a new driver come in from Northern India.
Rally Star Cup winner of 2004, veteran Sanjay Agarwal who was co-driven by the 2004 Overall National Champion navigator Sujith Kumar, won the honours in the 1400 cc INRC class. Sanjay, who had moved up to the 1400 cc class, proved that despite all the problems he had with his car, he was a winner on the track. “I am happy that I finished the event.We broke our front struts in the very first stage yesterday and had a lot of problems before completing the event. We drove conservatively and won the class”, said Sanjay, fizzing Champagne at the Dakopgiri stadium in front of a cheering 8000 strong crowd.
Debutant G.S.Joshy co-driven by experienced navigator G.M.Srikanth won the Rally Star Cup category, with a very convincing drive. “I am too happy to win in the first rally that I am driving. This will encourage me to do the full season now”, opined Joshi. In addition he also placed overall second.
The Best timing of the three Super Special Stages run went to Sunny Sidhu and co-driver H.S.Bawa from Delhi. Sunny,the Raid de Himalaya winner should have finished the rally in good placing, but had to pull out when his Gypsy wheel came off yesterday.
Today he was driving for leg points. Dr.Mukul Sangma, the Home Minister who was there to witness the Super Special Stage was so impressed with Sunny’s driving that he went for a spin with him in the rally gypsy.The Tura Challenge-5 was flagged off into the stages yesterday morning at 8 a.m. where the rallyists drove two Special stages (in the Chibragre and Badadam areas about 15km away from Tura) repeated thrice and returned to Tura in the evening.
Today morning they were flagged off at 8 a.m. again and they drove both the stages once in the reverse direction and returned to Tura. Later in the afternoon, the Super Special Stage at Dakopgiri Stadium (that was run once on Friday evening) was run twice to complete the rally. 9 of the 15 starters finished the Tura Challenge –05. One of the major dropouts was Philipose Mathai from Team Methods who had a gearbox problem yesterday.
The organizers of the event Motorsports Association of Garo Hills who are running their maiden event in the National Championship, have proved that they have an excellent capacity to organize and this should bring in more people from Magalia into rallying. “I am very happy that all the rallyists enjoyed the rally and we will do it better next year”, remarked Ashok Agarwal, the COC. “The Government of Magalia who has supported the rally are keen on doing whatever possible for promotion of Motorsport in the region,” said the Home Minister Dr Mukul Sangma.
The Champagne ceremony at the stadium was followed by the prize distribution function at the 2nd Battalion at 8 p.m.
Provisional (Unaudited) Results: OVERALL: 1. Sandeep Sharma & Kuldip Singh (2hours, 8min, 0.39sec); 2. GS Joshy & Srikanth GM (2:08:51.43); 3. Chetan Shivram & Chandrashekar (2:12:04.62).
1400cc class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal & Sujith Kumar (2:18:27.98); 2. Ravi Agarwal & Pradeep Kumar (2:28:54.71); 3. Along Aier & Zachume Ezung (2:42:14.53).
Rally Star Cup: 1. GS Joshy & Srikanth GM (2:08:51.43); 2. Chetan Shivram & Chandrashekar (2:12:04.62); 3.Anil Wadia & CK Chinnappa (2:16:44.84).
Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma & Kuldip Singh (2:08:00.39); 2. Suresh Rana & Marcus Bugar (2:12:59.08); 3. Prakash Momin & Nancy Sangma (2:26:17:85).
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Vikram Mathias, Sujith Kumar crowned INRC champions for 2004
Mumbai, 24 Jan 2005: Bangalore duo Vikram Mathias and co-driver Sujith Kumar of Team MRF were crowned as the new champions in the Indian National Rallying Championship and they were presented with a brand new Maruti Baleno by Maruti at a glittering prize distribution ceremony organised by Motorsports Association of India here on Saturday.
The 2004 season saw eight rounds and it was a close race with Mathias and Kumar winning the crown by just two points. The duo bagged 46 points to beat reigning championsh VR Naren Kumar and D Ramkumar, who garnered 44 points.
Prithveen Rajan and co-driver PV Srinivasa Murthy won the 1400cc title and was also presented with a Maruti Alto. The pair scored 71 points. Sanjay Agarwal and Chandramouli won the Rally Star Cup and drove away a Marut 800.
The Kadet Indian National Karting Championship was won by Chennai’s Vishnu Prasad with 53 points and Ashok Jadhav with 32 points was crowned as the Indian National Karting champion.
In the Asian Zone National Karting Championship, Charlie Charles of Malaysia won the honours and Chennai’s Preetham Muniappa came second.
Winners for 2004:
INRC Overall: Vikram Mathais/Sujith Kumar (Team MRF ) 46 points; V R Naren Kumar/D Ramkumar (Team MRF) 44; Lohit Urs/ Bonnie Thomas 42.
INRC 1400cc: Prithveen Rajan/P V S Murthy 71; Ranjith Ballal /Ashwin Naik 55; Arjun Rao Aroor/CK Chinappa 54.
Rally Star Cup: Sanjay Agarwal/ Chandramouli 72; Rajesh Gadakh/ Parithosh Kohok 49, Jasbir Singh/ Jeetender Nath 38.
Gypsy Cup: Anil Wadia/ Shrikanth GM 31; Along Iyer/ Suresh Rana 25; Gaurav Chirpal/ Satender Singh 18.
Kadet-Indian National Karting Championship (K-INKC): Vishnu Prasad 53; Ajay Kini 38; Chittesh Mandody 36.
INKC: Ashok Jadhav 32; Deepak Paul Chinnappa 27; Preetham Muniyappa 26.
Asian Zone National Karting Championship: Charlie Charles 18; Preetham Muniyappa 16; Mikko Nassi 16.
Vehicle preparation award: J Anand.Outstanding performance by a novice Gypsy driver: Gaurav Chirpal.
Outstanding performance by a novice driver: Rajesh Gadakh.
INRC event of the year 2004: MAK WISA Nashik Rally -
Lohith Urs-Bonnie Thomas win INRC; Karamjit-Allen clinch APRC
Pune, 5 Dec 2004: Ace Mysore driver Lohit Urs and Bonnie Thomas steered their Maruti Baleno to a stunning victory beating Team MRF’s Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy and excelled among the Indian drivers to clinch the top honours in the seventh round of th eIndian National Rally Championship (INRC), the MRF India Rally which was held concurrently with the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) here on Sunday.
Ranjit Ballal and co-driver Venu Ramesh Kumar won the 1400cc class pushing aside Philippos Mathai and Ashwin Naik while Sandeep Sharma and Shrikanth GM won the Gypsy Cup beating Along Aier and co-driver Ashok Agarwal. Jasbir Singha and Jatinder Nath came first in the Rally Star Cup for novice drivers.
Karamjit Singh of Malaysia, tackling tough terrain with ease, clocked 2 hours, 1 minute and 17.5 seconds to finish 29.8 seconds ahead of challenger Katsuhiko Taguchi and won the APRC Indian round. The Team Proton Pert driver efficiently managed to steer safely to the finish on a day when when three stages were cancelled in the MRF India Rally 2004, as a safety measure by the stewards. Drivers complained that non-rally vehicles and spectators and other village crowds were straying onto to the track in the closed Special Stages.
Japanese driver Katsuhiko Taguchi of Team MRF Tyres timed 2:01:47 to take the Overall second position in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8. He navigated the tricky terrain to be the only driver in APRC category to counter Karamjit in the 3 special stages at Tahir.
Naren Kumar, along with co-driver D Ramkumar, who clocked 2:18:14, could only finish fourth in overall APRC classification, behind Karamjit, Katsuhiko and Geoffrey Argyle.
“It took some time for me to get used to the car and thus finishing fourth in APRC is very satisfying,” said the to Indian ace Naren.
Malaysian navigator, Allen Oh, who called the notes for the last time expressed mixed feelings about his retirement after this rally: “I am happy to be part of the winning team, at the same time sad that my last event as co-driver happened to be one of the worst.”
Nazir Hoosein of MAI, the governing boday, said: “Allen is an experienced competitor and his partnership with Karamjit has been nothing short of phenomenal. So such opinions have to be respected and should act as a motivation for all of us.”
The Head of the Indian federation also expressed apprehension that APRC may not be held in India next year. Nazir Hoosein, the vice-president of FIA and chairman of organising committee of the rally said: “We will request FIA to shift the rally dates in the calendar from December to February as it is the best month in India for good road conditions. If FIA agrees, the next APRC event can be held only in Feb but only in 2006.”
Final Provisional Classification:
APRC: 1. Karamjit Singh/ Allen Oh (Team Proton Pert) (2hours, 1min, 17.5sec); 2. Katsuhiko Taguchi/ Mark Stacey (MRF Tyres) (2:01:47); 3. Geoffrey Argyle/ Chris Cobham (Team Total Lubricants) (2:06:15); 4. Naren Kumar/ D Ramkumar (2:12:14); 5. Brian Green/ Fleur Pedersen (Team Total Lubricants) (2:18:54).
INRC: 1. Lohith V Urs/ Bonnie Thomas (1:10:32); 2. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (MRF Tyres) (1:11:05).
1400cc: 1. Ranjith Ballal/ Ramesh Kumar; 2. Phillipos Mathai/ Ashwin Naik; 3. Jiby Maliakkal/ Nikhil Pai.
Gypsy Cup: 1. Sandeep Sharma/ Srikanth GM; 2. Along Aier/ Ashok Agarwal; 3. Anil Wadia/ Satinder Singh.
Rally Star Cup: 1. Jasbir Singh/ Jatinder Nath; 2. Nitin Batra/ Prashant Mehta.
