The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Naren set to make history

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 30, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Racing : Motor

Naren set to make history

Principal Correspondent

KOCHI: Life on the world rally circuit is tough. But the Acropolis Rally of Greece, where V.R. Naren Kumar makes history on Friday by becoming the first Indian to drive in the World Rally Championship, makes it tougher.

The surface is hard with many rocks and there are many tricky corners.

“All I can think is that they can never get worse than this,” said Naren on the eve of his historic drive, on Thursday. “The roads and stages are extremely rough. It’s very important to make sure you are on the road all of the time.”

The Coimbatore star has been a six-time national champion, has won Asia Zone title and has climbed on the APRC podium. But despite all his experience Greece is turning out to be a new experience.

“Well, as I can say, it’s very different from the rallies in our country. It’s a different game altogether,” said the 33-year-old Team Sidvin India driver who will be driving a Subaru Impreza WRX in the World Championship’s Production Class. “We’re here to see how things go; this is a two-year programme. We want to look at all of the events and learn.”

Things were hard for Naren on Monday when the Production cars had a test session.

“When you come to roads like this, it can happen: you get a bit too enthusiastic,” said Naren who has Britain’s Nicky Beech as his co-driver in the three-day event. “We had a small off over a crest; I didn’t know where the road was going. We continued after that, though, and the team and I were very pleased with the way the test went.”

The goal for Naren, who is backed by the Bangalore-based Sidvin Core-Tech, is to goad the car to the finish.

“The idea is to get as many km as possible and get to the finish.”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport