Tyre giants drum up keen finish — SI Rally

Chennai, July 10: The conditions could not have been more difficult as the first leg of the two-day South India Rally, the third round of...

Chennai, July 10: The conditions could not have been more difficult as the first leg of the two-day South India Rally, the third round of the Castrol National Rally Championship for Cars, took toll of nine cars with arch-rivals Team MRF and JK Tyre sharing the first nine Overall positions, here today.

If anything, Sunday, when the concluding leg of the 530 km event will be run, should witness an intense and exciting battle between the big guns.

VR Naren Kumar and co-driver D Ramkumar (MRF) ended the day with a comfortable, if not decisive, 38-second lead over Malaysians Karamjit Singh and co-driver Jagdev Singh, driving for JK Tyre.

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In fact, as well as Naren drove, the performance of the Malaysian duo deserved a special mention. Despite a malfunctioning clutch and a host of other mechanical problems, Karamjit still managed to hold his own in a car which he found too slow for his liking and on a terrain he is not accustomed to.

“Yes, we just about managed to come through today. I am used to driving afar more powerful car and frankly, we found the terrain rather tough and the suspension took a beating. But, like I said, it is a learning experience for us,” said the modest Karamjit Singh, the 1997 Asia-Pacific champion.

Hari Singh, the former National champion, ended the day 40 seconds behind Naren in third place despite suspension problems that cost him precious time.

In fourth place were MRF’s Arjun Balu/KR Kumar followed by team-mates and 1998 National champions Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan/Farooq Ahmed.

Provisional pre-Audit positions

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VR Naren Kumar/ D Ramkumar (MRF) 1 (53 mins penalty); Karamjit Singh/ Jagdev Singh (JK Tyre) 2 (53:38); Hari Singh/ GS Mann (JK) 3 (53:40); Arjun Balu/ KR Kumar (MRF) 4 (53:41); N Leelakrishnan/ Farooq Ahmed (MRF) 5 (53:44); Sagar Muthappa/ Sandeep S Rao (MRF) 6 (53:58); Manik Raikhy/ P Vivekanandan (JK Tyre) 7 (54:45); Vijayant Choudhary/MK Chander (MRF) 8 (55:02); BS Pruthvi/ Shivu Shivappa (JK) 9 (56.00); Nihar Mody/Nikhil Vital Pai 10 (56:41).

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