The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Big surprises in MRF rally team

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 27, 2005

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Sport - Racing : Motor

Big surprises in MRF rally team

Stan Rayan

SINGAPORE: The MRF, the country's champion team, has decided to drop National champion Vikram Mathias from its rally squad this season.

"We have taken the very promising Lohith Urs and Arjun Rao as our newcomers this year. And we have retained Karandip Singh and Arjun Balu," said Antony Rodricks, MRF's motorsport team chief in Canberra on Monday.

"We had invited four-time World rally champion Juha Kankkunen for a training camp in Chennai early this year and he was very impressed with Lohith," revealed Mr. Rodricks.

This new changes mean that MRF will be without India's top two rally drivers this year. MRF had parted company with its biggest star, former multiple national champion V.R.Naren Kumar, late last season after the Coimbatore-based international drove under the JK Tyres banner in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship's last round in Pune.

Naren was runner-up to Vikram Mathias in the National Championship's final drivers standings last season.

He had forfeited his chances of retaining the Indian crown when he skipped the final round of the National Championship in Pune to drive in the APRC's only Indian leg.

MRF skipped the opening round of the Indian National Championship in Tura, Meghalaya, in March this year but its four drivers will compete in the next round in Mysore this May, confirmed Mr. Rodricks.

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