The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Naren-Ram duo surges ahead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 08, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Racing : Motor

Naren-Ram duo surges ahead

Principal Correspondent

Coimbatore: Red Rooster Racing's newly-hooked driver V.R. Naren Kumar (co-driver Ram Kumar) drove like a master to take the opening day honours in the premium class (Group 2000c N+) of the Speed-INRC Rally of Coimbatore at the Kethanur windmill farms, near here, on Saturday.

Naren now has a clear 31-second advantage over his teammate and Masinagudi-based driver Vikram Mathias (co-driver P.V.S. Murthy).

“It's a good lead I feel. Our strategy was to go on the offensive from the word go. We did exactly that and gained a slight edge over Team MRF's APRC driver Gaurav Gill by the end of the first loop,” said Naren.

He said the first two stages were comfortable but the third was a bit dicey with the tyres going bald. “The stages are getting very rough and it is not easy out there for the cars. Now that we have taken the lead, it is time we look after the car and carry the advantage home.”

Perfect day

Mathias was delighted. “It was a good day for the team. I was a little unfortunate at the start. A stalled car and a 20-second road penalty for late check-in did a bit of damage to the day. But, I am quite happy finishing second. It's an excellent set-up and a perfect day for the team. The stages are certainly rough. A combination of speed and caution is what we plan for the Sunday show.”

“Nashik was one of those things but I am happy that both Naren and Mathias have put the team right on the track,” said N. Leelakrishnan, Red Rooster Racing's Technical Director.

It was a not a great day for Team MRF as both defending champion Gill (Musa Sherif) and Lohit Urs (Srikanth) failed to complete due to technical problems. Gill, who looked good at the start, fell out of contention in the fourth stage due to ball-joint woes in the suspension and Lohit due to drive shaft difficulties in the last stage of the day.

Unofficial provisional Classification (After SS-7, Leg I): Overall: 1. Naren Kumar & Ram Kumar (Red Rooster Racing) 1:10:22.0s; 2. Vikram Mathias & PV Srinivasa Murthy (Red Rooster Racing) 1:12:32.0; 3. Arjun Balu & Sujith Kumar BS (Team MRF) 1:15:12.0.

Group 2000cc N+: 1. Naren Kumar & Ram Kumar 1:10:22.0s; 2. Vikram Mathias & PV Srinivasa Murthy 1:12:32.0; 3. Arjun Balu & Sujith Kumar BS 1:15: 12.0.

Group 2000cc N: 1. Sujay Suresh & Bharath SM (Ovion Racing) 1:19:38.0; 2. Vikram Devadasen & E. Shivaprakash (Pvt), 1:24:23.0; 3. Sirish Chandran & Nikhil V Pai (Pvt-Team Overdrive) 1:27:08.0.

Group 1600cc N: 1. Shailendar Hegde & Sheraz Ahmed (Pvt) 1:27:51.0; 2. G.A. Vishal & Robinson R. George (Pvt) 1:25:25.0; 3. Ranjith Gopinath & R. Dileep (Pvt) 1:26:26.0.

Group 1400cc N: 1. Sk Ajgar Ali & Debasish Ghosh (Pvt) 1:14:22.0; 2. Byram Godrej & Anjay Kapadia (Pvt) 1:23:40.0; 3. Dr Bikku Babu & Bonnie Thomas (Pvt-Kerala) 1:24:02.0.

Group Rally Star Cup (RSC): 1. Phalguna Urs & Anoop Kumar (Pvt) 1:25:06.0; 2. Kaushik H. Shinde & Ninad A. Mirajgaonkar (Pvt) 1:25:13.0; 3. N. Hari Kesav & Ashvin Nadig (Pvt) 1:26:29.0.

Group Gypsy: 1. Maj Amarinder S. Brar & Himanshu Pareek (Pvt-Army Adventure Wing) 1:26:45.0; 2. Shakti Bajaj & Dharmesh Singh (Pvt-Army AW) 1: 28:14.0; 3. Sanjay Agarwal & B. Lakshmikanth (Pvt) 1:28:29.0 .

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

Sport