Karamjit wins Pune leg by loses APRC title by a point

Pune, 7 Dec 2003: Karamjit Singh of Malaysia won the MRF India rally with a stunning drive on a difficult terrain on the western outskirts of Pune, steering his Group A Proton to a creditable victory but failed to retain his FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship title, losing by just a point to Armin Kremer, here on Sunday.

INRC Winners – Jiby & Nikhil

Meanwhile, it was Jiby Maliakkal and co-driver Nikhil Pai, who clinched the honours in the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) bringing home their Honda City VTec to a comfortable win in the 1600cc class. The INRC was held concurrently with the APRC round here in Pune. Mysore driver Lohit Urs and co-driver Musa Sherif won the 1400cc class.

Tactical Kremer gains

Coming back to APRC, German Armin Kremer not only won the the overall honours for the year but also took home the Production Class victory for the year 2003 by finishing 2nd overall in the final leg in Pune. Behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7, Kremer won the title on his MRF tyres-backed Mitsubhishi by garnering seven super rally points for his drive here, which proved crucial in the end.

Before the start of the APRC final round here, four drivers were competing with a chance to win the championship. Kiwi driver Geoff Argyle was on table top with 45 points followed by Kremer on 43 and, Japan’s Fumio Nutahara was third another six points behind Kremer on 37. Defending APRC champion, Malaysian Karamjit Singh had only 34 points but still had a fair chance of clinching the title again with a maximum of 19 points on offer in the last leg in Pune. However, as one would have it, despite taking the Overall victory here, Karamjit missed a chance to retain the title by a point as Kremer managed 7 super rally points to seal the championship.

Kremer was leading overnight after a good run in the first leg while Karamjit lost about 90 seconds due to a puncture and the three super rally points stood Kremer in good stead with Singh getting only two, which in the end proved costly for the Malaysian.

Despite winning the next two legs and the points, Karamjit Singh had to rue the point he lost in the first leg. He increased the lead to 2 minutes 22 seconds but Kremer was cool enough to guard his second place in the last two legs, thus winning the championship.

Italian Nico Caldarola was third in a Mitsubishi Lancer 7 and MRF team-mate of Kremer, David Doppelrieter was fourth.

Geof Argyle had issues all the day as he had problems with shock absorber before overheating and punctures ruined his chances and he ended up at 6th place by the end of Day 1. But he still had a chance on the following days for the other legs as his contender for the championship Fumio Nutahara crashed out with a suspension issue. His team-mate Katsu Taguchi also pulled out with bad gearbox.

Playig a tactical game and a second place enough for the championship, Kremer took it easy in the second leg and let the Malaysian Karamjit pull up a gap in the lead and was content protecting his second place. “I know I just had to come second. But I have to finish and take the second place for the bonus point for the day which is very crucial. It meant I couldn’t back-off. With the rough conditions it was difficult to know the right pace,” said Kremer. But the way he drove, Kremer judged well during all the stages on the final day. And, he finally made it by just a point.

“I’m very happy to take the overall win because we came here looking for the Group N title for this year. So this is fantastic. This is a wonderful championship with so many countries, conditions and cultures. For European drivers it is such a good experience to have so many events with gravel and they are all so different. It is over and we now we think about next year,” concluded the champion from Germany.

Karamjit Singh said: “I am happy to win in India as this country is very special to me. But it is a bit frustrating to lose the championship by a point.”