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  • Karamjit Singh takes lead after Day 2: APRC

    Pune, 6 Dec 2003: Celebrated rally driver Karamjit Singh and co-driver Allen Oh of Petronas Eon Racing team, Malaysia, driving a Group A, modified Proton Pert, snatched a 90-second lead over Germany’s Armin Kremer and co-driver Fred Berssen of Team MRF Tyres, to take the day’s honours on Saturday at the end of Leg 2 of the MRF India Rally, the fifth and concluding round of the 2003 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, simultaneously run along the seventh and final round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Saturday.

    Karamjit, the 2002 Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and Production Cars category World Rally Championship winner, managed to erase the deficit of over one minute to overnight leader, Kremer who lead at the end of Leg 1.

    Driving aggressively and hitting top speeds in the first Special Stage of the day (SS6), Karamjit took 14 second off Kremer, the 2001 European champion, and went on clip a further 54 seconds in the next stage and reclaimed the lead he had on Friday but some technical issues with suspension later on, spoiled his good work as he lost almost two minutes.

    However, Karamjit consolidated his lead increasing it by another 45 seconds in SS-8 and then enhanced it to one minute, 29.7 seconds at the end of Leg 2.

    Kremer, who had clinched the Group N (unmodified) title last night after his closest rival Japan’s Fumio Nutahara had dropped out following an off-road excursion, had to deal with gear selection problems. He was forced to drive his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 7 in third gear through much of SS-7 and SS-8.

    “It was basically a technical problem and I was stuck in third gear for nearly 10 kms of SS-7 and also the next Stage. It has been a tiring day for me, with the Stages being long, narrow and tricky. However, we only need to finish second Overall to win the APRC championship and that is not too bad a position to be in. But then, I need to keep an eye on Nutahara who might be starting again tomorrow to try for some Leg points,” said Kremer at the final Service halt.

    Nutahara, after crashing out yesterday, started Leg 2 today, but half-way through SS-7, the gearbox of his Evo 7 gave way, forcing him to retire for the day. However, he plans to restart on Sunday.

    Karamjit had no such issues, though he had to come to terms with a suspension that had gone soft and some problems with the brakes. “We have had no punctures, no big problems. So, I’m pretty happy with our performance,” said Karamjit.

    Meanwhile, two top New Zealand entries, Geof Argyle (co-driver Steve Smith) of Racetech Seats and Andrew Hawkeswood (co-driver Paul Fallon) of Force Motorsport Ltd., dropped out of contention.

    Argyle, in a Group A Evo 6.5, has had a wretched outing here. “I broke both the front struts today and had a puncture on SS-9 that cost me three minutes. So, it has been a disappointing Rally for me. Perhaps, I should have run on harder suspension, given the rough terrain here,” said Argyle who is placed fifth Overall, but second in Group A, behind Karamjit. Hawkeswood, also in a Group A Evo 6.5, retired after a puncture on SS-7 and broken strut on SS-8.

    “I had broken two struts yesterday. So, I do not have any spares. It has been a disappointing APRC season for me, as I finished only two of the five rounds. Perhaps, I will take a year’s break and come back in 2005,” he said.

    David Doppelreiter of Austria (co-driver Ola Floene of Norway), representing Team MRF Tyres, put in some fast times in his Group N Evo 7, to finish Leg 2 at fourth Overall, behind Karamjit, Kremer and 2002 Group N champion, Nico Caldarola (co-driver Paolo Cecchini) of Italy.

    Provisional/unaudited classification after Leg 2:

    APRC Overall: 1. Karamjit Singh/Allen Oh (Team Petronas Eon Racing) (3hrs, 9mins, 29.3secs); 2. Armin Kremer/ Fred Berssen (Team MRF Tyres) (3:10:59.0); 3. Domenico Caldarola/ Paolo Cecchini (3:14:44.7); 4. David Doppelreiter/ Ola Floene (Team MRF Tyres) (3:20:02.2); 5. Geof Argyle/ Steve Smith (Team Racetech Seats) (3:29:15.1); 6. Chris Atkinson/ Ben Atkinson (Team Monster Sport Australia) (3:33:03.2); 7. Brian Green/ Fleur Pedersen (Team Force Motorsport Ltd) (3:43:54.5).

    APRC Group N (unmodified): 1. Kremer/Berssen ; 2. Caldarola/Cecchini ; 3. Doppelreiter/Floene 3.

    Leg 2 Points: Karamjit Singh 3 pts; Kremer 2 pts; Caldarola 1 pt.

    Total points after Leg 2: Kremer 5, Karamjit 5, Caldarola 2.

  • Birthday boy Armin Kremer takes lead after Day 1: APRC

    Pune, 5 Dec 2003: Birthday boy Armin Kremer of Germany put his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7 in the lead on the opening day on Friday. Driving along with co-driver Fred Berssen for Team MRF Tyres, the duo emerged as the early leaders in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship conducted along with Indian National Rally Championship here on Friday.

    Kremer, the Group N (unmodified) 2003 APRC champion and the 2001 European champion, led Japan’s Fumio Nutahara (co-driver Satoshi Hayashi) by 66 points to 54, going into the MRF India Rally, the fifth and concluding round of the 2003 APRC series. Thus, he clinched the Group N title when Nutahara retiring after a crash in Special Stage-3.

    Kremer, who celebrated his 40th birthday on Thursday, topped the time charts at the end of Day One and with it earned three points for being the fastest in Leg 1. The three points saw him overhaul the overall championship leader, Geof Argyle (co-driver Steve Smith) of Racetech Seats, New Zealand, and lead by 46 points to 45.

    Argyle, driving a Group A Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6.5, lost considerable time due to a puncture, a broken strut and an overheating engine that capped a rather disappointing outing as he returned to the cool of his hotel room without a point after finishing fifth in Leg 1.

    And in between, strong contenders Karamjit Singh and co-driver Allen Oh of Malaysia, driving a Group A Proton Pert for Team Petronas Eon Racing, had a puncture and lost two minutes in SS-5. In the process, Karamjit, had to concede the lead to Kremer who was ahead by a minute on Friday.

    “Yes, it is good to win the Group N championship, but Saturday would be crucial as I am sure, Karamjit will be pushing hard to make up time. A one-minute lead is nothing much and I need to drive well to hold off both Karamjit and Argyle,” said Kremer.

    Kremer too suffered a puncture in SS-3 but recovered fast to carry on his campaign. “I somehow managed to finish the Stage, but lost about 18 seconds due to the puncture,” Kremer, the 3-time German champion added.

    David Doppelreiter of Austria (co-driver Ola Floene of Norway), also of Team MRF Tyres, drove conservatively to finish Leg 1 fourth Overall and third in Group N, behind Kremer and Domenico Caldarola (co-driver Paolo Cecchni) of Italy.

    Karandip-Jaidas lead: In the MAI Indian National Rally Championship, the seventh and concluding round of the series, a lot of drivers failed to finish the day. Karandip Singh and co-driver Jaidas Menon of Team MRF, driving a Honda City V-tec, Overall first at the end of Leg 1 with a lead of over four minutes on second-placed Jiby Maliakkal and co-driver Nikhil Pai.

    Top guns like VR Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar, and his MRF team-mates N Leelakrishnan (Farooq Ahmed), Arjun Balu (Kumar Ramaswamy) and Vikram Mathias (Sujith Kumar), retire due to mechanical problems.

    Provisional/unaudited classifications after Leg 1 (90.08 Kms):

    APRC Overall: 1. Armin Kremer/ Fred Berssen (Team MRF Tyres) (1hr, 21mins, 34.9secs); 2. Karamjit Singh/ Allen Oh (Team Petronas Eon Racing) (1:22:34.9); 3. Domenico Caldarola/ Paolo Cecchini (1:23:14.5); 4. David Doppelreiter/ Ola Floene (Team MRF Tyres) (1:23:49.2); 5. Andrew Hawkeswood/ Paul Fallon (Force Motorsport Ltd) (1:26:08.1); 6. Geof Argyle/ Steve Smith (Team Racetech Seats) (1:30:30.3); 7. Chris Atkinson/ Ben Atkinson (Monster Sport Australia) (1:32:58.0); 8. Brian Green/ Fleur Pedersen (Team Racetech Seats) (1:33:38.8).

    APRC Group N: 1. Kremer/Berssen; 2. Caldarola/Cecchini; 3. Doppelreiter/Floene.

    Leg points: Kremer/Berssen 3 pts; Karamjit/Oh 2 pts; Caldarola/Cecchini 1 pt.

    MAI-INRC Overall: 1. Karandip Singh/ Jaidas Menon (Team MRF Tyres) (1:35:44.4); 2. Jiby Maliakkal/Nikhil Pai (1:40:31.2); 3. Lohit V Urs/ Musa Sherif (1:42:24.5); 4. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Bhat (Team Movva) (1:47:08.7).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/ CK Chinnappa (Team Mandovi) (1:48:00.7); 2. Ranjit Ballal/ Shanmuga Nataraj (1:48:34.7); 3. Sanjay Agarwal/ Ashwin Naik (Team GMW) (1:50:28.9); 4. Prithveen Rajan/ Jay Kumar (1:52:37.3).

  • Karandip-Jaidas win Movva K1000 Rally; Naren-Ram clinch National Championship

    Bangalore, 17 Nov 2003: Team MRF’s Chandigarh-based Karandip Singh teamed up with Jaidas Menon, his long-time navigator from Bangalore to finally notch up his first triumph in nearly two years winning the overall class in the Movva Rally de Bangalore, the sixth and penultimate round of MAI Indian National Rally Championship, on Sunday.

    Driving a Honda City V-Tec, Karandip, whose last success in a National Championship event was in 2001 when he won the Karnataka-1000, saw off a late challenge from reigning National champion and team-mate VR Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar to emerge a convincing winner.

    “It certainly is a nice feeling, and I am happy that I finally broke my jinx by winning here. It has been a frustrating season, as I could not capitalise on winning positions at Chikmagalur, Nashik and Chandigarh rallies. Today, I was not very comfortable on the first two Special Stages, but thereafter, I stepped up the pace,” said the modest Karandip, the National champion in Group N (unmodified) class back in 2000.

    Meanwhile, Naren Kumar confirmed his third National Championship title with a round to spare by finishing third behind Karandip and Arjun Balu (co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy), also of Team MRF.

    The third place finish was sufficient for the 29-year old from Coimbatore to clinch the National title with a tally of 68 points with just one more round of the INRC to be gone through in Pune (December 5-7). He has aggregated 68 points to Balu’s 47 and Karandip’s 44. The maximum number of points on offer in an INRC event is 16 (10 for win and three each for the two legs).

    “It is a great relief to have the National championship race behind me. And I now look forward to a more relaxed approach for the final round at Pune next month. Yes, it certainly is a great feeling, but I would have loved to have clinched the championship by winning here in Bangalore rather than finish third,” said Naren.

    Trailing by 53 seconds overnight to Karandip, Naren stepped up the pace today and made up 58 seconds before suffering a puncture on the penultimate Special Stage that cost him about 20 seconds as he slid from second to third position.

    Though Naren had finished fifth on Saturday at the end of Leg One, he was elevated to second spot after team-mates N Leelakrishnan (Farooq Ahmed), Arjun Balu and Vikram Mathias (Sujith Kumar) conceded road penalty of 20 seconds apiece.

    Meanwhile, in a strange turn of events, the 1400cc class saw none of the three contenders finishing the event, but picking up Leg points. Under the circumstances, Lohit V Urs (co-driver M K Bopanna) and Rahul Kantharaj (co-driver Vivek Bhat) found themselves on level terms with 44 points apiece while the third contender, Karthikeyan R (co-driver Sathish G), also could not complete the event due to mechanical failure, and remained on 38 points.

    Ranjit Ballal and co-driver Shanmuga SN, who had won the Rally Star Cup category, were subsequently excluded following post-event scrutiny.

    Final unaudited Classifications (after Leg 2):

    INRC 1600cc: Team MRF (Karandip Singh/Jaidas Menon) 1 (1 hr, 29 mins, 13 secs); Team MRF (Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy) 2 (1:29:50); Team MRF (V R Naren Kumar/D Ramkumar) 3 (1:30:10); Team MRF (N Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed) 4 (1:30:25); Team MRF (Vikram Mathias/Sujith Kumar) 5 (1:30:34); Jiby Maliakkal/Nikhil Pai 6 (1:32:24).

    INRC 1400cc: No finishers.

    Rally Star Cup: Ram Prashanth/Thiru Murthy 1 (1:30:51); Prithveen Rajan/PVS Murthi 2 (1:32:30); Arun Kumar/Lohit Anand 3 (1:33:0); Arjun Rao Aroor/Ashwin Naik 4 (1:35:08); Anitha Kholay/Rashmi Bopanna 5 (1:50:52).

  • Arjun Balu-Kumar Ramaswamy win Rally de Goa; MRF cars missing

    Panaji (Goa), 2 Nov 2003: Talented Ajrun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy, the Coimbatore duo of Team MRF, steered their Honda City V-Tec, to an emphatic overall win as they bagged Rally de Goa, the fifth round of the MAI-Indian National Rally Championship, which concluded in here on Sunday.

    With this win Arjun Balu moved to the second spot on the leadership table behind Naren Kumar, who did not rally here. Other top drivers could not take part as four MRF cars did not arrive at the venue on time for scrutiny and rally. However, Naren Kumar and Ramkumar still enjoy a 28-point lead with two more rounds left in the championship. Karandip Singh and Jaidas Menon, also of MRF, are in third place.

    They enjoyed a huge lead of over four minutes to second-placed R Karthikeyan and co-driver G Satish who steered a Maruti Esteem. In the process, Karthikeyan and Satish won the INRC 1400cc category, followed by Rahul Kantharaj and Vivek Bhatt of Team Movva in second.

    But for a simple mistake, Gulf Oil-sponsored pair of Jiby Maliakkal and co-driver Nikhil Pai would have put their Honda City on the podium. But they had to be content with fourth overall after they lost considerable amount of time due an off-road excursion on Saturday. However, they tried, Jiby could not make up the deficit on Sunday and ended fourth in the eight-car field. All 8 finished the rally.

    “It was nice to win my first event since the India Rally last year, but it would have been more satisfying had my teammates too taken part,” said Balu soon after, spraying champagne over his co-driver at the parc ferme.

    Balu was referring to the absence of reigning National champion VR  Naren Kumar, Karandip Singh, N Leelakrishnan and Vikram Mathias, all of Team MRF, who could not take the start on Saturday as their Honda City cars did not arrive at the venue in time. Nevertheless, Balu had to contend with a problematic clutch that he said considerably cut into his time.

    “On the uphill sections, especially, I was struggling to go quicker, and had my team-mates taken part, I doubt I would have won. But of course, it is still nice to taste success,” said Balu who had led the field overnight by over three minutes.

    The competition in the 1400cc, however, hotted up after today’s results as Kantharaj overtook leader Lohit V Urs who too failed to take the start on Saturday. Kantharaj has 43 points to Lohit’s 40, while Karthikeyan is within striking distance of the two front-runners with a tally of 39 points.

    Meanwhile, the collegian from Manipal, Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Musa Sherif comfortably won the Rally Star Cup category, 49 seconds in front of Prithveen, a post-graduate student from Chennai, and co-driver PVS Murthy.

    Provisional final classifications: INRC Overall: 1. Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF)  (1 hr, 14 mins, 25 secs); 2. R Karthikeyan/G Sathish (1:19:02); 3. Rahul Kantharaj/Vivek Bhatt (Team Movva) (1:19:08); 4. Jiby Maliakkal/Nikhil Pai (Team Gulf Oil) (1:28:45).

    INRC 1400cc: 1. Karthikeyan/Sathish; 2. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Bhatt.

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/Musa Sherif (Team Mandovi) 1 (1:19:23); 2. Prithveen/PVS Murthy (1:20:12); 3. Ranjith Ballal/Shanmuga (1:22:10);4.  S Ram Prasanth/Thiru Murthy 4 (1:22:15).

  • 8th straight win for Naren-Ram; Karandip-Jaidas survive 40-foot drop

    Chandigarh, 21 Sept 2003: Defending champion VR Naren Kumar ande co-driver V Ram Kumar of team MRF won all the four rounds this season and well on his way to another title as he won the overall title in the MAI Power M1 Challenge Rally, the fourth round of the MAI Indian National Rally Champioship here on Sunday.

    This is the 8th straight win for the pair continuing from the previous season as they finished ahead of teammates Vikram Mathias and co-driver Sujith Kumar with over a minute to spare.

    Naren Kumar, the 29-year old from Coimbatore, had an easy time on Sunday after overnight leaders Karandip Singh and co-driver Jaidas Menon, also of Team MRF, suffered a 40-feet roll on Special Stage-10 following a brake failure.

    “Since I led Mathias by over two minutes, I eased off totally and did not take any risks. But I was determined to make up the 13 seconds and our approach was to go absolutely flat out and make at least three to four seconds on each of the Stages today. But once Karandip was out of the rally, we decided to take it easy and finish the event,” said Naren, who, in fact, had made three seconds on Karandeep after the first stage on Sunday.

    Meanwhile, Mathias, after failing to finish the Chikmagalur and Nashik rounds of the INRC and skipping the Kochi leg, did well to pick up his first points of the season.

    “I am happy with our performance in this event and it was a relief to finish after a string of DNFs,” said Mathias talking about the first two rallies he Did Not Finish (DNF).

    Karandeep, 29, from Chandigarh, looked certain to clinch the title last night when he established a 13-second lead over Naren.

    “We were doing about 100 kmph on a downhill stretch in SS-10 when the brake tube cut leading to loss of fluid. There was nothing I could do and we crashed down a 40-foot drop,” said a disappointed Karandip, who was looking to score a win on home territory. Both the drivers escaped because of the Roll Cage which is mandatory for all rally cars.

    Naren and Mathias were the only two from Team MRF to complete the rally as former National champion N Leelakrishnan and co-driver Farooq Ahmed pulled out on Sunday with mechanical problems to join teammates Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy in the casualty list.

    Veterans Samir Thapar and co-driver Gurinder Singh Mann, both making a comeback after several years, finished third overall in a Maruti Esteem, ahead of championship leaders in the 1400cc category, Lohit Urs and co-driver MK Bopanna.

    Provisional final results:

    Overall: 1. VR Naren Kumar/V Ram Kumar (Team MRF) (1hr, 43mins, 46secs); 2. Vikram Mathias/Sujith Kumar (Team MRF) (1:44:02); 3. Samir Thapar/ GS Mann (1:46:25;) 4. Lohit v Urs/ MK Bopanna (1:47:31); 5. Jiby Maliakkal/Nikhil Pai (Gulf Oil) (1:51:43); 6. Rajiv Suri/ Rajeev Mehta (1:58:22).

    1600cc (Honda City V-Tec): 1. Naren Kumar/ Ram Kumar, 2. Vikram Mathias/B Sujith Kumar, 3. Jiby Maliakkal/Nihil Pai.

    1400cc (Maruti Esteem): 1. Samir Thapar/Gurinder Singh Mann, 2. Urs/Bopanna.

    Rally Star Cup: 1. S Ram Prashanth/ Thiru Murthy (1:51:18); 2. Ranjith Ballal/ Shanmuga (1:51:41); 3. Yogeshwar Gill/Harkanwal Cheema (2:05:23).

  • Naren Kumar-Ram notch up third straight win, clinch Kerala Rally

    Kochi, 31 Aug 2003: Reigning National champion VR Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar of Team MRF notched up their third consecutive win clinching the overall title Kerala Rally 2003, the third round of the MAI Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Sunday.

    Naren, behind the wheel of a Honda City, clocked a time of 1hour, 23minutes and 16 seconds to complete the special stages beating teammate Karandip Singh, who paired with Bangalore navigator Jaidas Menon. Karandip took a time of 1.25:32 secs while multiple-national champion N Leelakrishnan and Farooq Ahmed finished the course in 1.26:54 secs to take the third spot.

    In the 1600 cc category, Naren Kumar took the honours while Karandip bagged the second and Leelakrishnan the third place.

    In the 1400 cc category, R Karthikeyan and co-driver G Sathish won the top spot in the class with a time of 1.35:04 seconds followed by George Antony and Bijoy Paul who clocked 1.38:01 seconds. Renjith Paul and co-driver Anoop Xavier came third in a time of 1.45:43.

    In the MAI Rally Star Cup category, Arjun Rao and experienced CK Chinnappa won with a penalty time of 1.33:59 secs followed by Thirtha Patil and co-driver Lohith Anand who took 1.36:56 secs ahead of third-placed K Ranjith Ballal and co-driver Shanmuga with a time of 1.38:33, a Scorp News release said.

    Organisers add:

    The Kerala Auto Sports Club organised and hosted the Kerala Rally 2003, the third round of the MAI Indian National Rally Championshipo for Cars, which was run through the forest stages of Bhoothanthankettu and Edamalayar Dam. One of the most-alluring aspects of the event is its excellent picturesque, smooth and winding tarmac.

    The Kerala Rally covered a distance of approximately 380km. There were nine Special Stages which covered a distance of 117km and run over a period of two days. Apart from Team MRF, Team Chettinad and Team Blue Lines participated in this year’s event.

    The entire event was tracked and controlled with the aid of HAM Radios. Ham Radios have linked the Clerk of the Course (CoC) to all Stage Commanders, Ambulances, and important officials of the event. The Mobile Control Room was stationed at Thundam. The Radio Network this year was coordinated by Girish Babu, code name `VU2 KGB’ and Jacob Elias, `VU2 ADV’.

  • Naren Kumar-Musa Sherif win MRF Taj Challenge

    Nashik, 8 June 2003: Defending champion VR Naren Kumar and co-driver Musa Sherif of Team MRF gave an awesome display of speed and controlled driving to win the MRF Taj Challenge Rally, the second round of the Motorsports Association of India’s (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC), here on Sunday.

    It was Naren Kumar sixth straight INRC victory and he appeared well on course to equaling 10 straight wins by teammate N Leelakrishnan in 1992-93. But in this rally,  Naren was without his regular co-driver D Ramkumar, who is getting married later in the week.

    Naren Kumar, left, & Musa Sherif.

    At the finish of the two-day event that saw the cars complete six Special Stages, Naren Kumar was a comfortable 55 seconds ahead of teammates Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy who finished a distant second. Naren clocked 1::13:40 to Balu’s 1::14:35.

    Naren Kumar, the 28-year-old from Coimbatore, clocked one hour, 13 minutes, 40 seconds to Balu’s 1:14:35.

    Meanwhile, the third Team MRF driver in the running, Karandip Singh and co-driver Jaidas Menon suffered his third puncture of the event and lost considerable time to finish sixth, behind Jiby Maliakkal (co-driver Nikhil Pai).

    There were some pleasing performances lower down the field, especially in the 1400cc class won by Rahul Kantha Raj and co-driver Vivek Bhatt of Team Nova. The duo also finished third in the overall standings.

    Arjunrao Aroor, a teenager from Manipal, won the Rally Star Cup in the company of co-driver C K Chinnappa, the oldest competitor at 51 years of age.

    Aroor’s victory was more or less confirmed late last night when one of his main competitor, Sanjay Agarwal (co-driver Ashwin Naik) was excluded from the Rally by the Stewards. Agarwal was penalised for attending to his gear-box in the control area just at the start of the day’s last special stage.

    Provisional Unaudited Results:

    Overall: 1. VR Naren Kumar/Musa Sherif (Team MRF) (1 hour, 13 mins, 40 secs); 2. Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF) (1:14:35); 3. Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Bhatt (Team Nova) (1:19:10); 4. Lohit V Urs/ MK Bopanna (1:19:13); 5. Jiby Maliakkal/ Nikhil Pai (1:22:59); 6. Karandip Singh/ Jaidas Menon(Team MRF) (1:23:11); 7. V Shamsunder/PVS Murthy (Blue Lines) (1:25:13).

     1400cc: 1. Kantharaj/Bhatt; 2. Urs/Bopanna; 3. Shamsunder/Murthy.

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Arjun Rao Aroor/ CK Chinnappa ; 2. Ranjith Ballal/ Shanmuga Nataraj; 3. Anita Kholay/ Rashmi Bopanna.

  • Defending champions Naren-Ram clinch season opener, Coffee Day Rally

    Chikmagalur, 25 May 2003: Defending champion Naren Kumar of Team MRF overcame initial hiccups to clinch the Coffee Day Championship Rally 2003, the opening round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Sunday. On Friday, the opening day Naren, along with his navigator D Ramkumar, faced some issues but managed to steer back and won the season opener at the Coffee stages here on Sunday.

    Naren clocked 2 hours, 38 minutes and 24 seconds to beat teammate Karandip Singh and co-driver Jaidas Menon by 49 seconds. Karandip did go flat out in the last stages on Sunday but had to be content with the Overall second place as the champion managed to hang on.

    Lohith Urs and MK Bopanna, the Mysore-Coorg combinatin, claimed the 1400 cc class without much trouble. Rahul Kantharaj and co-driver Vivek Bhatt were second with Karthikeyan and co-driver Veera Shanmugham taking third place. There were only three finishers in the class.

    Experienced Sanjay Aggarwal made a winning comeback bagging the Rally Star Cup, with Manoj Mohan as the navigator. In 1998 Sanjay met with a serious accident during the South India Rally and was hospitalised for a long time and the rehab for his broken back took years and it a victory to his spirit to make a return to rallying at the Coffee Day event. The only all-ladies crew of Anita Kholay and Rashmi Bopanna finished sixth in the Rally Star Cup.

    Provisional results:

    Overall (1600 cc): 1. Naren Kumar /D Ramkumar(Team MRF) (2hours, 38min, 24sec); 2. Karandip Singh/ Jaidas Menon(Team MRF) (2:39.13); N. Leelakrishnan/ Farooq Ahmed(Team MRF) (2:39.32); Arjun Balu /R Kumar (02:41.20).

    1400cc class: 1. Lohith Urs /MK Bopanna (2:45:36); Rahul Kantharaj/ Vivek Bhat (2:48:15); 3. Karthikeyan /S Veera Shanmugham (2:51:26).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Sanjay Aggarwal /Manoj Menon (2:51:00); 2. Amith Kumar /ASN Shanmugha (2:53:35); 3. Arjun Rao /ACK Chinappa (2:54:46); 4. Roopesh /Chetan (3:03:31) 5. BH Abhijeet Pai /Divin JE (3:19:47); 6. Anita Kholay /Rashmi Bopanna (3:56:06).

  • Coffee Day Rally from May 24

    Chikmagalur, 15 May 2003: Defending champions Naren Kumar and co-driver Ramkumar are raring to go as the season begins with the popular Coffee Day which will be run on the Special Stages on the foothills of Sahayadri hills in the Western Ghats from Friday. The Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) calendar for the year being run under the aegis of Motorsports Association of India (MAI) features nine rounds.

    Leelakrishnan along with local star Farooq Ahmed as co-driver will vie for honours along with other top drivers like Karandeep Singh, Vikram Mathais and Jibby Malakal in the two-day Coffee Day Rally to be flagged off on May 24.

    The 330-km rally, organised by the Motor Sports Club of Chikmagalur (MSCC), will run 10 Special Stages, spread over two days, on the dusty roads of coffee plantations. Entries numbering to 22 have been received till now.  The Parc Ferme will be at ABC.

  • Arjun Balu-Kumar lift INRC title; Warren-Judd win APRC honours

    Bangalore, 8 Dec 2002: Driving their Mitsubishi Evo VII in a steady and catious manner, Stewart Warren and Darryl Judd had an easy outing on the final day and won the the MRF India Rally 2002 here on Sunday.

    Unless some unforeseen issues cropped up, the duo were assured of the title and they did take it easy on the final day with an eye on finishing the rally without any hiccups to take home the title. And Indian ace, Naren Kumar, too, was content to play the second fiddle and wanted to protect his second place and played with cation to bring home his Evo VII a little after two minutes from the winners. Lang Xu (Guangyuam Men) steered his Subaru GC-8 to third place.

    Meanwhile, leaving all these Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) participants of the Candidate round, the Indian National lRally Championship (INRC) was won by talented Arjun Balu, who was ably assisted by Ramaswamy Kumar, as they kept aside a strong challenge from Leelakrishnan and Farooq Ahmed, who were just behind by 25 seconds.

    Putting behind the disappointment from his previous effort at the APRC Thailand round, the 37-year-old New Zealander did not find any stiff competition in the the rally. Naren, who had done well to break into the lead initially on the first stage, found his lack of familiarity with the Mitsubihi Evo VII four-wheel drive and was content to play safe. He also encountered mechanical problems, and to add some punctures to troubled him. But Naren did show his skill and displayed glimpses of his driving skills as he clocked some fastest sector times.

    The final day’s route past the Khodays distilleries was quit challenging and had many dips and climbs which made it an arduous path and understandably many of the cars preferred, were just content, in passing through and did not make any effort to clock their best times, lest they topple. Hence the times were the slowest among all the three days.

    The final day saw seven cars, all in the international section, taking part. The INRC drivers and the Rally Star Cup contestants all stayed off the roads despite having the option to participate.

    For the Chinese team of Lang Xu and Guanguan Men in the Subaru GC-8, the bad start on the ceremonial flag-off where their car refused to start, ended on a much happier note in third place. Xu and Men did extremely well to take the podium and moreover it was their first-ever effort on a four-wheel drive.

    The battle for the fourth spot generated some interest on the final day, as Gerard McGroarty managed to edge out Robert Whyatt. Trailing by 84 seconds on the final day, McGroarty pushed hard in the final leg and just about pipped Whyatt.

    The provisional results: 1. Stewart Warren/ Darryl Judd (Mitsubishi Evo VII) (2 hours, 50 minutes, 30.9 seconds); 2. Naren Kumar /D. Ramkumar (Mitsubishi Evo VII) (2:53:04.4); 3. Lang Xu /Guangyuam Men (Subaru GC-8), (3:02:24.7); 4. Gerard McGroarty /Karl Francis (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III) (3:07:29.9); 5. Robert Whyatt /Malcolm Cox (Mitsubishi Evo III) (3:08:33.5).

    INRC: 1. Arjun Balu /R. Kumar (2:17:03);1; 2. Leelakrishnan /Farooq Ahmed (2:17:28.9); 3. Karandip Singh /Jaidas Menon (2:20:10.9).

    INRC 1400cc: 1. Shresta Patil /Lohit Anand (2:30:08.5); 2. Rahul Kantharaj /Vivek Bhatt (2:33:53.6); 3. S Venkatesh /V Srinivas (2:42:19.3).

    Rally Star Cup: 1. Lohit Urs /MK Bopanna (2:30:23.6); 2. S Ramprashanth /Ravi Venkatesh (2:30:59.4); 3. Amith Kumar /Amith Anand (2:40:49.0).