Naren Kumar, Ramkumar begin season with a win; Reds sweep top-six spots
Coimbatore, 31 March 2002: Strong contenders and local stars VR Naren Kumar and navigator D Ramkumar of Team MRF led a sweep of all the top-six places by the `Reds’, topping the stage times on the outskirts of the city, in the Servo Mill & Monsoon Rally, 2002, the opening round of the Motorsports Association of India’s (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) here on Sunday.
Naren and Ram, the defending Asian Zone Rally Champions, had an overnight lead of 12 seconds over teammates Sagar Muthappa and Sandeep S Rao from Bangalore. But the narrow lead proved to be too short as Sagar attacked the stages right from the word `go’ and in the very first stages not only made up the 12 seconds, but managed to take a lead of 40 seconds and to add to the complications for Naren, his Honda City suffered technical problems. But Naren carefully guarded his second place till then. And after the Service break after Stage 2, took care of the struts, Naren and Ram, had no other way but go all-out to bridge the gap, if had to eye a victory. “We were a bit worried but judging the pace of others, we decided to attack and go all-out. The struts were worrying us, but after the Service stop, we took off,” said Naren.
In the last three stages, Naren was fastest and garnered enough time on Muthappa and by the end of the five stages of the day, he not only bridged the gap but took a minute and four seconds lead.
“We had something loose at the rear and the car was not handling well. By the time we could set it, we lost time to Naren. But it is still a good beginning for the season and we hope for a good year,” said Muthappa.
Team MRF’s Karandip Singh and co-driver Jaidas Menon took the third place on the podium, a further 56 seconds behind Muthapopa. Former multiple-National champions N Leelakrishnan and co-driver Farooq Ahmed came fourth behind Karandip.
Talented Karnataka duo of Vikram Mathias and BS Sujith Kumar were Overall fifth clocking 2hours, 16min and 37seconds, but importantly they won their class, the 1400cc category. Vijyant Chaudhry and Moosa Sherif finished 6th overall.
“We were pushing hard to see whether we can match the 1600cc machines but gave up mid-way as we were keen not to win our class and avoid problems to the car,” said Mathias. They comfortably beat the Kerala duo of PG Abhilash and Sangeet Kumar, who were supported jontly by JK Tyres, Maruti Motorsport and Chettinad Sport.
But it was the day Team Chettinad, as their pair of Jiby Maliakkal and Rohan Rego, the Rally Star Cup champions last year, bounced back after an incident in Stage 3 where thier car turned turtle, and with a stunning effort they took the final place on the podium in the 1400cc class.
It was Q-Wait Oil’s Kerala duo of Dr Bikku Babu and Bonnie Thomas, who built on their Saturday’s lead and won the Rally Star Cup nurturing their car mixing caution with aggression. “We did have pressure yesterday, but today we went for a win making sure to bring the car home,” said Bikku Babu.
Shamsundar V and PV Srinivasa Murthy of Team Blue Lines, who were sixth overnight in their class took the third place despite two punctures and rued missed chances of taking the second. But others were not so lucky. The Rally Star Cup, overnight leaders Lohitt V Urs and Bopanna MK pulled out due to technical problems and others to follow suit were Phillipos Matthai and Bhopesh Gadotra, who had suspension issues, and Arjun Rao Aroor and Dunstan JM D’Silva who could not finish due to mechanical problems.
Of the 19 cars that started on Sunday, only 16 finished the rally. The second round will be at Nashik on June 15 & 16.
Provisional results:
Overall and Upto 1600cc: 1. VR Naren Kumar /D Ramkumar (Team MRF) (2hours, 13min, 13sec); 2. Sagar Muthappa /Sandeep S Rao (Team MRF) (2:14:17); 3. Karandip Singh /Jaidas Menon (Team MRF) (2:15:13); 4. N Leelakrishnan /Farooq Ahmed (Team MRF) (2:16:15).
Upto 1400cc: 1. Vikram Mathias /BS Sujith Kumar (Team MRF) (2:16:37); 2. PG Abhilash / Sangeet Kumar (Team JK, Maruti, Chettinad) (2:21:43); 3. Jiby Maliakkal /Rohan Rego (Team Chettinad Sporting) (2:26:17); 4. Along Aier and Vikishe Shome (pvt) (2:30:09).
Rally Star Cup: 1. Dr Bikku Babu /Bonnie Thomas (Team Q-Wait Oil) (2:27:12); 2. Manju JM/ Sudharshan Gowda M (pvt) (2:30:52); 3. Shamsundar V/ PV Srinivasa Murthy (Team Blue Lines) (2:33:11); 4. Thirtha S Patil /Lohit Anand (pvt) (2:34:37).
