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).