Hari, Leela battle for supremacy

The two top teams among four-wheelers, Team MRF (Reds) and JK Tyre (Yellows), renew their battle as the Castrol Karnataka-1000 is flagged-off from The Club at Mysore Road on Thursday.

The Indian rallying scene, in the recent years, has been narrowed down to the Reds and Yellows with N Leelakrishnan and reigning national champion Hari Singh, respectively, at the forefront.

It would be no different this time as the duo would be fighting it out for precious points in the race for the championship title. Leelakrishnan (30 points), a multiple nationalchampion, is just ahead of Singh (25) after two rounds.

Leelakrishnan took the first round at Nasik convincingly even as Singh, bogged by mechanical problems, came 11th overall. But at Chennai last month, Singh roared back to win while Leelakrishnan came in fifth overall after some terrific driving in his Esteem which ran on three cylinders for most of the rally.

However, the two can expect some strong challenge from MRF-sponsored Arjun Balu and Upkar Dicky’ Gill, both of whom had a tremendous outing in the South India Rally. Balu was second overall while Gill dropped out (gear-box problems) on the second day after being well in front of the pack.

If Group A (modified) category is a battle between a handful of drivers, the story is quite different in Group N (un-modified), where Sagar Muthappa (MRF) had an excellent run in Chennai to top the category and finishing third overall.

But currently, Muthappa is second in the championship, behind Satish Bhat (JK) who seemed to have rediscovered his touchand enthusiasm for rallying.

A Bangalore youngster, P G Abhilash, too has been making ripples as he clocked some good timings on the stages in the South India Rally. He is third in the group championship.

Adding colour to Group N are veteran Farad Bhathena (MRF), two-wheeler maestro Jagat Nanjappa (MRF), who is in his first season in a car, lady competitor Navaz Bhathena (Chettinad Sporting) and the seasoned Ravi Jouhari (Birla Tyres) who is in the middle of his second innings.

The two-wheelers, forever in the background, has had few new challengers to Paritosh Kohok, K Prasad, R H Vikram, Amrinder Sandhu, Zubin Patel and Ravichandran. Almost the entire lot have opted for solo riding with the benefit of the reccee on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the 14 Special Stages, located on the outskirts of Gubbi town, near Tumkur, with three loops and repetitions, were described as “tough, challenging and dicey” by the competitors. Some of the sections were said to be extremely rough with a very small margin forerror.

While the bikes would be out of the Stages by dusk, the cars would be doing a major portion of the event at night. And, should it rain, then it would make the run so much more tougher as it would mean different lines and pace than jotted down in the pace notes during the reccee. The outcome would hinge as much on navigational skills as sheer courage.

The bikes will be flagged-off at 6.30 a.m. and the cars hit the road at 12.30 p.m. The running time of the rally is about 11 hours.