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Slender lead for Karamjit

By Sanjay Rajan

PUNE DEC. 6. Defending champion Karamjit Singh has a 90-second lead over Team MRF Tyres' Armin Kremer going into the final leg on Sunday. But the latter, who leads what is now a two-horse race for the overall title by four points, needs to finish second in the concluding leg (for the bonus points) as well as in the MRF-India Rally, which is the fifth and final round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) 2003 for cars, to win his maiden APRC overall title by one point.

In what is his debut year in this championship, Kremer, the 2001 European champion, had secured what was his, as well as his team's, maiden APRC Group N crown on Friday.

Karamjit, who trailed Kremer by a minute at the start of leg two on Saturday, topped four of the day's five Special Stages (SS) and said he took the second slot behind Japanese Taguchi only because of a soft suspension.

Kremer, the overnight leader, finished the day second behind Karamjit. "Karamjit is driving a modified Group A car (Proton Pert), which is so much faster," said Kremer, piloting a Group N (production class) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7.

Kremer described the stages were very difficult, being narrow, long and twisty. "I guess tomorrow will be a hard day too. We'll go all-out, though we need to finish only second. But with not many long straights, we can't go full speed: 120 to 150-kmph is the maximum one can go without breaking the car," said Kremer.

The German had his share of problems too, suffering gearbox trouble 15-km into SS-7 and for a good part of SS-8.

Team MRF's other driver, David Doppelreiter, who is also piloting an Evo7, is fourth behind Karamjit, Kremer and Italian Nico Caldarola in the overall and third behind Kremer and Caldarola in Group N.

"I'm fighting for survival. The car is too quick for these stages. We had a puncture on SS-7, losing three and a half minutes. But I am very happy with my driving," said the Austrian.

The series leader before this event, Kiwi Geof Argyle, was plagued by suspension problems. He broke his Evo 6.5's front struts in SS-7 and suffered a flat in SS-9.

Opening day's retirees, Japanese Fumio Nutahara and Katsukiho Taguchi, re-started the second leg, but both were laid low by transmission problems. The MAI-Indian National Rally Championship competitors had a day's break today and will join the APRC drivers on Sunday.

The provisional results (after leg 2):

APRC overall: 1. Karamjit Singh (Allen Oh), Malaysia, Group A, Proton Pert, 3:09.29.3; 2. Armin Kremer (Fred Berssen), Germany, Team MRF, Group N, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo7, 3:10.59.0; 3. Nico Caldarola (P. Cecchini), Italy, Group N, Evo7, 3:14.44.7; 4. David Doppelreiter (Ola Floene), Austria/Norway, Team MRF, Group N, Evo7, 3:20.02.2; 5. Geof Argyle (Steve Smith), NZ, Group A, Evo6.5, 3:29.15.1.

Group N: 1. Armin Kremer; 2. Nico Caldarola; 3. David Doppelreiter.

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