Naren Kumar wins sixth National title: INRC

Panaji, Goa, 19 Nov 2006: Defending champion Naren Kumar of Coimbatore proved to be a tough nut to crack for his rivals winning Rallye de Goa to clinch his sixth National Championship here on Sunday. The MRF driver with trusted navigator Ramkumar comfortably won the WIAA Rallye De Goa 2006, the final round of the Motorsports Association of India’s (MAI) Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).

Enjoying an overnight lead of 1 minute and 20 seconds over third-placed Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon, also of Team MRF, Naren followed a cautious approach to keep himself in the fray without pushing his machine too much and finished the eight special stages clocking 1hour, 11min, 24sec, a lead of 11 seconds over teammate Gaurav Gill and co-driver Farooq Ahmed (1:11.35).

Another Team MRF’s driver Lohit Urs finished overall third in 1:13.04 while Karandeep Singh was fourth in 1:13.26.

It was Girijashankar Joshy who won the 1400 cc category, riding high his big overnight lead and in the process bagged the National Championship in this category with Goa proving to be a good hunting ground.

The Rally Star Cup was won by Rajesh Gadakh and co-driver Paritosh Kohok and they too bagged the National Championship in this class.

Naren Kumar took his points’ tally to 45, thus clinching the National title once again. A visibly- pleased Naren said: “I am very happy to win this title. It is an incredible feeling to win the sixth title and I enjoyed this year’s campaign throughout as there were too many ups and downs and I am very satisfied with my win.”

The champion was queried about his strategy going into the race. “I had to finish ahead of Karandeep in both the legs and hoped somebody would settle between me and him. That happened yesterday, after which it was a no contest,” Naren concluded.

Provisional results:

Overall: 1. Naren Kumar and D Ramkumar (Team JK Tyre, Cedia) 1:11.24; 2. Gaurav Gill and Farooq Ahmed (Team JK Tyre, Cedia) 1:11.35, 3. Lohit Urs and Musa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno);

1600 cc: 1. Lohit Urs and Musa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:13.04; 2. Karandeep Singh and Jaidas Menon (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:13.26, 3.Arjun Balu and Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Fiesta) 1: 14.23.

1400cc: 1. Girijashankar Joshy and Srikanth GM (Esteem) 1:15.26, 2. Shreshta Patil and Ramesh Kumar (Esteem) 1:19.55, 3.Domnic Prithvi and Chandrashekar M (Esteem) 1: 24.06.

Rally Star Cup: 1. Rajesh Gadakh and Parithosh Kohok (Esteem) 1:19.11, 2. Abhijeet Pai and Prajval Pai (Esteem) 1:20.25, 3. Thirtha Patil and Jeevarathinam (Esteem) 1: 21.09.

Gypsy Cup: 1. Suresh Rana and HS Bawa 1:22.54, 2. Khushwant Randhawa and Amandeep 1:24.34, 3. Suchi Thakur and Zuzer Rangwala 1:32.20.