Arjun Balu-Kumar Ramaswamy win Popular Rally
Cochin, 5 Nov 2000: Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy of Team MRF emerged the Overall winners of th 18th Popular Rally the fifth round of the MAI Indian National Rally Champonship here on Sunday.
Defending champions and favourites Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar, also of Team MRF, finished second and these were the only two cars that finished in Group A, with the oither two MRF entries Leelakrishnan and Sagar Muthappa retiring.
Former National champions N Leelakrishnan and co-driver Farooq Ahmed, along with Sagar Muthappa and co-driver Sandeep Ran and local stars Dr Bikku Babu and navigator Bejoy Paul Jacob failed to finish the rally and were the 3 retirements of the 12 that took the start.
Karandip Singh and co-driver Jaidas Menon, also of Team MRF, won the N4 class driving their Maruti Esteem to a comfortable lead over second-placed Vikram Mathias and co-driver Sunil Shetty. Vijayanth Choudhry and Shivu Shivappa were third ahead of husband and wife pair of Jagat Nanjappa and co-driver Anita.
In all 9 of the 12 cars finished the rally and all-woman team of Navaz Bathena and Sherin Balachandran finished sixth behind Vikram Shram and Sujith Kumar who took the fifth place in the N4 class. Rahul Kantharaj and co-driver Shanmuga Sundaram completed the line-up in 7th in this class.
Provisional Results:
Overall: 1. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF – Esteem) (1:32:14); 2. Naren Kumar /D Ramkumar (Team MRF – Esteem) (1:32:32); 3. Karandip Singh/Jaidas Menon (Team MRF – Esteem) (1:32:40); 4. Vikram Mathias/Sunil Shetty (Esteem) (1:35:31); 5. Vijayanth Choudhry/Shivu Shivappa (Esteem) (1:35:32); 6. Jagat Nanjappa/Anita Nanjappa (Esteem) (1:35:47);
Group A4: 1. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (MRF – Esteem) (1:32:14); 2. Naren Kumar /D Ramkumar (MRF – Esteem) (1:32:32). (only two finishers in group)
Group N4: 1. Karandip Singh/Jaidas Menon (Esteem) (1:32:40); 2. Vikram Mathias/Sunil Shetty (Esteem) (1:35:31); 3. Vijayanth Choudhry/Shivu Shivappa (Esteem) (1:35:32); 4. Jagat Nanjappa/Anita Nanjappa (Esteem) (1:35:47);
