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).
