Naren Kumar-Ram win Sujana MRF Deccan Rally

Hyderabad, 11 Dec 2005: Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar won the three-day Sujana MRF Deccan Rally 2005, the seventh and final round of the Motorsports Association of India (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) which concluded here on Sunday.

Leading by just two points before the start of the Rally, Naren Kumar and Ramkumar wrested the National Championship by a convincing margin after winning the Deccan Rally. They left beyond doubt, who the winners are, despite having the advantage of bagging the title even without winning the rally as Arjun Balu, the main contender, had crashed out on Saturday. Thus Naren Kumar won his fifth National title to become the celebrated driver in the 18-year history of INRC in this format. He just needs one more title to overtake Coimbatore star N Leelakrishnan, who has six titles.

Speed master Gaurav Gill of Delhi finished second ahead of Mysore star Lohith Urs. Girijashankar JOshy won the Rally Star Cup while Sandeep Sharma clinched the Gypsy Cup. Sanjay Aggarwal beat Ravi Aggarwal to second place and bagged the 1400cc class and local lad Ramaraj, ignited the celebration at home, taking the final place on the podium in this calss. Rayna Aranhya won the Ladies Class.

Before the start of the rally, the championship standings were nail-bitingly poised as Naren Kumar with 42 points is leading by just two points on Arjun Balu, who garnered 40 points. In the 1400cc class,Sanjay Agarwal is leading Prithveen Rajan by two points.

The last rally of the INRC 2005 season got underway on Friday with the Recce being completed in time by all 26 entries. The number of entries makes it the second-highest this year. As usual, the competition will be in all the three classes, namely 1600cc, 1400cc and Rally Star Cup (RSC). The top names that will be vying for honours are strong contenders Naren Kumar and talented Arjun Balu in the Overall and 1600cc classes. Both belong to team MRF. Pritveen Rajan and Sanjay Aggarwal in 1400cc and Chetan and Joshi in RSC category are the other drivers to watch out for.

The Rally will be flagged off at 12.15 pm from Fortune Katriya Hotel and the Super Special Stage (SSS) will be held at NTR Stadium. The SSS covering a distance of 4km will be run twice. The Rally Special Stages on Friday and Saturday will be run in the picturesque locations on the Karimnagar Road, about 45km from the city. The three Special Stages will be run thrice in the forward direction and once in Reverse direction totalling for 12 Special Stages on Day I and will be repeated on Sunday. The Stages were smooth gravel with tight and twisty corners.

Unofficial OVERALL RESULTS: 1. Naren Kumar/ Ramkumar; 2. Gaurav Gill; 3.Lohit Urs; 4. Sanjay Agarwal; 5. Rajith Ballal.

1400cc class: 1. Sanjay Agarwal; 2. Ravi Agarwal; 3. Ramaraju.

Rally Star Cup: 1. Girijashankar Joshy; 2. Anil Wadia; 3. Thirtha Patil.

Gypsy Class: 1. Sandeep Sharma; 2. Sanket Shanbhag.

Ladies Class: 1. Rayna Aranhya;

Best Local Entry: 1. Ramaraju.

(Note: The results compiled are from unofficial sources)

SSS timings :
1. Naren Kumar 4m 07s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

2. Arjun Balu 4m 12s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

3. Arjun Aroor 4m 12s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

4. Karandip Singh 4m 12s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

5. Lohit Urs 4m 15s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

6. Pritveen Rajan 4m 19s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

7. Gaurav Gill 4m 20s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

8. Jiby 4m 21s (Team Gulf Oil, Honda city Vtec);

9. Sanjay Agarwal 4m 23s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

10. Phillipose 4m 24s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

11. Ranjith 4m 24s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

12. Rahul 4m 25s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

13. Joshi 4m 26s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

14. Shresta 4m 28s (Maruti Suzuki Baleno 1600);

15. Sandeep 4m 31s (Maruti Suzuki Gypsy);

16. Sanket 4m 31s (Maruti Suzuki Gypsy);

17. Ravi 4m 32s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

18. Anil Wadia 4m 34s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

19. Chetan 4m 35s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

20. TT Patil 4m 40s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1400);

21. Prithvi 4m 41s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

22. Kiran 4m 45s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

23. Zubin 4m 45s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

24. Anita 5m 04s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

25. Ramaraju 5m 10s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC);

26. Rayna Aranhya 5m 49s (Maruti Suzuki Esteem 1300 RSC).

List of retirements: Day 1: Phillipose Mathai; 2. Arjun Aroor Rao; 3. Prithveen Rajan; 4. Arjun Balu; 5. Karandip Singh; 6. Anita Kholay; 7. Prithvi; 8. Shresta Patil; 9. Rahul Kanthraj; 10. Chetan; 11. Kiran. DAY 2: None (Arjun Aroor Rao rejoined in Super Rally format).