Lohith Urs-Bonnie Thomas win INRC; Karamjit-Allen clinch APRC

Pune, 5 Dec 2004: Ace Mysore driver Lohit Urs and Bonnie Thomas steered their Maruti Baleno to a stunning victory beating Team MRF’s Arjun Balu and co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy and excelled among the Indian drivers to clinch the top honours in the seventh round of th eIndian National Rally Championship (INRC), the MRF India Rally which was held concurrently with the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) here on Sunday.

Ranjit Ballal and co-driver Venu Ramesh Kumar won the 1400cc class pushing aside Philippos Mathai and Ashwin Naik while Sandeep Sharma and Shrikanth GM won the Gypsy Cup beating Along Aier and co-driver Ashok Agarwal. Jasbir Singha and Jatinder Nath came first in the Rally Star Cup for novice drivers.

Karamjit Singh of Malaysia, tackling tough terrain with ease, clocked 2 hours, 1 minute and 17.5 seconds to finish 29.8 seconds ahead of challenger Katsuhiko Taguchi and won the APRC Indian round. The Team Proton Pert driver efficiently managed to steer safely to the finish on a day when when three stages were cancelled in the MRF India Rally 2004, as a safety measure by the stewards. Drivers complained that non-rally vehicles and spectators and other village crowds were straying onto to the track in the closed Special Stages.

Japanese driver Katsuhiko Taguchi of Team MRF Tyres timed 2:01:47 to take the Overall second position in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo8. He navigated the tricky terrain to be the only driver in APRC category to counter Karamjit in the 3 special stages at Tahir.

Naren Kumar, along with co-driver D Ramkumar, who clocked 2:18:14, could only finish fourth in overall APRC classification, behind Karamjit, Katsuhiko and Geoffrey Argyle.

“It took some time for me to get used to the car and thus finishing fourth in APRC is very satisfying,” said the to Indian ace Naren.

Malaysian navigator, Allen Oh, who called the notes for the last time expressed mixed feelings about his retirement after this rally: “I am happy to be part of the winning team, at the same time sad that my last event as co-driver happened to be one of the worst.”

Nazir Hoosein of MAI, the governing boday, said: “Allen is an experienced competitor and his partnership with Karamjit has been nothing short of phenomenal. So such opinions have to be respected and should act as a motivation for all of us.”

The Head of the Indian federation also expressed apprehension that APRC may not be held in India next year. Nazir Hoosein, the vice-president of FIA and chairman of organising committee of the rally said: “We will request FIA to shift the rally dates in the calendar from December to February as it is the best month in India for good road conditions. If FIA agrees, the next APRC event can be held only in Feb but only in 2006.”

Final Provisional Classification:

APRC: 1. Karamjit Singh/ Allen Oh (Team Proton Pert) (2hours, 1min, 17.5sec); 2. Katsuhiko Taguchi/ Mark Stacey (MRF Tyres) (2:01:47); 3. Geoffrey Argyle/ Chris Cobham (Team Total Lubricants) (2:06:15); 4. Naren Kumar/ D Ramkumar (2:12:14); 5. Brian Green/ Fleur Pedersen (Team Total Lubricants) (2:18:54).

INRC: 1. Lohith V Urs/ Bonnie Thomas (1:10:32); 2. Arjun Balu/ Kumar Ramaswamy (MRF Tyres) (1:11:05).

1400cc: 1. Ranjith Ballal/ Ramesh Kumar; 2. Phillipos Mathai/ Ashwin Naik; 3. Jiby Maliakkal/ Nikhil Pai.

Gypsy Cup: 1. Sandeep Sharma/ Srikanth GM; 2. Along Aier/ Ashok Agarwal; 3. Anil Wadia/ Satinder Singh.

Rally Star Cup: 1. Jasbir Singh/ Jatinder Nath; 2. Nitin Batra/ Prashant Mehta.