JK Tyres’s Karamjit-Jagdev win Rallye d’Endurance

Bangalore, 14 November 1999: Karamjit Singh and co-driver Jagdev Singh of Team JK Tyre won the 17th Rallye D’Endurance 1999, the 7th round of the Indian National Rally Championship, which concluded here on Sunday.

They won the rally comfortably with a margin of three minutes and 23 seconds as multiple champion N Leelakrishnan and co-driver MK Chander of Team MRF finished second far behind with MRF teammates Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy taking third position.

Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon, also of Team JK Tyres won the Group N title with Vijayant Choudhary and co-driver Satish Kumar R beating teammates Manik Raikhy and co-driver Vivek.

Rally report from Scorp News:

By George Francis

Bangalore, 14 Nov 1999: The Indian Automotie Sports Club (IASC) conductd the Rallye D’Enduance, 1999, as a part of its bid to organise the Asian Zonal Rally Championship next year.

Shifting out of the coffee country, Coorg (the usual Rallye D’terrain), the IASC locatd Six sages around Whitefield and the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway to run this year Rallye D’Endurance.

This was the shortest rally ever run in the Castrol National lRally Championship for cars, 357.69km in all with 127.65, of Speciall Stages and 230.04km of transport. The target time was 969 minutes.

The six stages presented an odd combination of loose sand, gravel, tarmac and rocks, with two railway crossings. An average of four kilometres being the distance of each stage, the KIADB stage was run thrice in the same direction, while the rest, Heritage, Air Force, Embassy, Capt Harish and VIT, were run thrice in the forward direction and thrice in the reverse. Totally, there were 33 stages. Devoid of sponsors like most other National Rallys, the IASC got surprise financial support from the Federation of Motor  Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) because it had bid for Asia Zonal Rally event.

“Two of the stages we had planned to washed out in the rains, and we had to locate new ones at the last minute,” said C Sridhar, secretary, IASC, and vice-president FMSCI.

There were 21 entries, four Group N unmodified cars and three Group A modified cars from MRF and an equal number from JK Tyre; two from Chettinad Racing, two from Team Kadur and three private teams.

After the mandatory recce and the pre-event scrutiny on the two previous days, the rally began on November 13 at the International Technology Park, near Whitefield about 30 kilometres from Bangalore, with Karamjit Singh and Jagdev Singh (JK) aking the starers’ flag. Karamjit had won the Thailand Rally in 1997 and the Asia Pacific event the next year. Naren Kumar of MRF was th second off the ramp. “I am going to take this event cool and steady. A third or fourth place could well put me in comfort in the National Champiolnship,” said Naren Kumar, who had won the last two events, namely Popular Rally and the Cotton City Rally.

“This rally is quite rough and the rate of attritio could be high,” remarked R Gopinath, noted Coimbatore racer and occasional rallyist, about the Rallye D-Endurance, the penultimate even of the National Championship.

Gopi’s premonition proved true as Hari Singh, top-runner for JK Tyre’s Champoinship bid, crashed into a wall in the very first stage. Hari and navigator Gurinder Singh Mann had to pull out of the rally due to a blaze that followed.

News of breakdowns and accidents filled the air.By the time the rally ran through 14 stages to regroup for lunch, six cars had pulled out. Sagar Muthappa had the worst of a roll. Dicky Gill crashed into a tree, OG Sunil had mechanical problems, Abhilash damaged the suspension and Lohit brokek his drive shaft, apart from Hari’s mishap.

Two stages later, the rallyists again re-grouped at the Embassy School for Horse Riding. One wondered why there were so many re-groups in such a short event. The rallyists then drove through the dusk into the night for the rest of the 17 stages.

It was in the night that Naren Kumar pulled out due to suspension breakage and Nikhil (JK) packed up due to mechanical problems. The husband and wife team of Jagat Nanjappa and Anita (MRF) went off the road at a 90 degree turn. Satpal (JK) was the other drop-out.

Delays and Marshalling  problems, pushed the finish time of the Rally D’Enduarance well beyond the target time of 969 minutes. The funny thing was that eh 11 rallyists who finished had to wait for over an hour for the finish marshal to arrive at the ITP Park.

Among the 11 finishers were four MRF cars, three JK vehicles, once Chettinad car, two Kadur cars, and one privateer, Ramesh. Ramesh and the two Kadur cars shoud be lauded for their performance agaisnt the MRF and JK teams.

The comments on the rally that bid for the Asian Championship 2000 were not so positive. “This is the worst ever run event in my life-time. It was logistically very disappointing. By logistics, I mean the logistics of running the rally, and not the hospitality part. The 130km special stage rally had a re-group every 10 to 15 minutes and the rally seemed to be run for their (IASC;s) own logistical convenience., and not the competitors.” The hospitality was fantastic, but we did not come here to eat, but to drive. The marshalling was horrible, and I feel it is unfortunate that the FIA observer, Indarjit Sardjano, was here to watch this. The last stage of the rally where four trucks came in the opposite direction, could have spelt death for our prime driver Karamjit,” said JK Tyre’s Rally Team Motorsport Manager, Sanjay `Hardy’ Sharma.

“I was taking ablind corner in the VIT stage, at 80-90 km an hour, when I suddenly saw a train in front. I just managed to brake and save my life and Jaidas’ (navigator). When we asked the Marshal at the finish Time Control, he said he had no information of the crossing train,” said Karandeep Singh of MRF.

JK Tyre’s Karamjit Singh and Jagdev Singh won the Rallye D’Endurance overall. Team MRF, the Championship leader, took the second to fifth positions.

Karandeep Singh of MRF scored his second victory this season, in Group N followed by teammate Vijayant and JK Tyre’s Manik Raiky. It is reported that the MRF team orders were to allow Vijayant to win the Rally, to add up valuable points for the Championship. A mis-calculation by Vijayant put Karandeep on th top of the podium, though he checked in late.

The third placing for Raikhy has added valuable points to keep him in the lead in the Group N Championship. Vijayant now stands second. Jagat’s and Sagar’s crashes have put Karandeep in the third spot in the Championship.

Karamjit Singh and Jagdev Singh from Malaysia, who won an Indian rally for the first time, said: “It is good to see Indian Rallying picking up. But, unfortunately, the cars we rally in India, are 20 years backward, when compared to other International rallys.”

The Rallye D’ Endurance itself was a very good rally, except for the standard of marshalling and the short stages, and very few service stops. The shorter the stages, the competitior fails to get into a rhythm of driving, and tends to make mistakes. Since service was allowed only after six stages, on an average, driving a `sick’ car gave us even more problems. The safety fator was at stake,” said Karamjit.

The feeling of the FIA observer Indarjit Sardjano, was that the management of the sport had to become more professional and the rally stages should be longer, smoother and tougher (not rougher).

Provisional Results: Overall (all Esteems): 1. Karamjit Singh/ Jagdev Singh (JK Tyres) (1hour, 57minutes, 58seconds); 2. Leelakrishnan N/ MK Chander (Team MRF) (2:01:21); 3. Arjun Balu/ Kumar KR (Team MRF) (2:03:27); 4. Karandeep Singh/ Jaidas Menon (2:03:27); 5. Vijayant Choudhary/ Satish Kumar R (2:03:37); 6. Manik Raikhy/ Vivekanandan P (JK Tyres) (2:04:30); 7. Gopinath R/ Rajaram C (2:06:07).

Group A/iv: 1. Karamjit Singh/ Jagdev Singh (JK Tyres) (1hour, 57minutes, 58seconds); 2. Leelakrishnan N/ MK Chander (Team MRF) (2:01:21); 3. Arjun Balu/ Kumar KR (Team MRF) (2:03:27); 4. Ramesh NK/ Vishnu Kamath (overall 20th) (2:19:20) .

Group N/iv: 1. Karandip Singh/ Jaidas Menon (2:03:27); 2. Vijayant Choudhary/ Satish Kumar R (2:03:37); 3. Manik Raikhy/ Vivekanandan P (JK Tyres) (2:04:30); 4. Gopinath R/ Rajaram C (2:06:07).

Unseeded: 1. Gopinath R/ Rajaram C (Chettinad Sporting) (2:06:07); 2. Sandeep Kadur/ Preetinder Tiwana (Team Kadur) (2:15:42); 3. Umakanth Alva/ Sunil Shetty (Team Kadur) (2:15:53); 4. NK Ramesh/ Vishnu Kamath (pvt) (2:19:20).

Novice: 1. Sandeep Kadur/ Preetinder Tiwana (Team Kadur) (2:15:42); 2. Umakanth Alva/ Sunil Shetty (Team Kadur) (2:15:53); 3. NK Ramesh/ Vishnu Kamath (pvt) (2:19:20).

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