MRF India Rally Pune Report,December 5:

Karamjit Singh uncorked champion stuff on the second day of the MRF India Rally, the concluding round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, brining to mind the opening lines of the song, "when the going gets tough the tough get going." Powering his Proton Pert over the rough surfaces of the special stages about 45 kms from Pune city, Karamjit beat back the challenge of the second-placed Katsuhiko Taguchi of Team MRF Tyres to win by 29.8 seconds.


Karamjit ingh (left) and Allen Oh of Team Proton Pert hold aloft the Malaysian flag as they pose atop their car after winning the MRF India Rally and the overall APRC title in Pune on Sunday.

In the process, Karamjit also clinched for himself the APRC overall title for 2004, the third of his illustrious career. The rough stages were once again the cause for concern and three more stages had to be cancelled on the second day. According to Nazir Hoosein, chairman of Himalayan Rally Association, the organizers, "the stages had to be cancelled because of some traffic and animal movement, which could have been dangerous.
The overall title in the Indian National Rally Championship was won by Team MRF's Vikram Mathais, whose three points on the opening day for finishing fastest, saw him overtake defending champion V R Naren Kumar. The honours in this round went to Lohit Urs, who capped a brilliant season with his second title. The other two Team MRF drivers, Vikram Mathais and Karandip Singh had to pull out with car trouble in the day's first stage itself.
Ranjith Ballal also won his maiden title in the 1400 cc, while the championship was won by Prithveen Rajan, one of the most consistent drivers on the Indian circuit. The Rally Star Cup championship was won by Sanjay Agarwal.
Karamjit, representing Team Proton Pert, clocked 2:01:17.5 on another stressful day for drivers, while Taguchi came home in 2:01:47.3. New Zealander Geoffrey Argyle was third, while Indian entrant V R Naren Kumar finished a distant fourth. "Finishing fourth in APRC is satisfying for me, because it took me time to get used to the vehicle," said the Coimbatore-based driver.
Taguchi, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO8 over the tricky roads, emerged the only driver in APRC category with skills and grit to challenge Karamjit over the three completed stages at Tahir. Just as on the opening day, he pushed the leader hard, but Karamjit showed his mettle as kept making time on his rival. Karamjit expressed satisfaction over his performance this season and hoped it would help him get sponsored to drive a production car in the World Rally Championship. The MRF India Rally also marked the retirement of his co-driver Allen Oh, who said he was happy to go out on a winning note. Karamjit also was full of praise for Taguchi and said, "I enjoyed the competition from Taguichi. He never let me relax for a single second, always pushing me to go faster."

(Karamjit ingh (left) and Allen Oh of Team Proton Pert hold aloft the Malaysian flag as they pose atop their car after winning the MRF India Rally and the overall APRC title in Pune on Sunday.)

Results (final classification):

APRC
1. Karamjit Singh/Allen Oh (Team Proton Pert) 2:01:47;
2. Katsuhiko Taguchi/Mark Stacey (MRF Tyres) 2:01:47;
3. Geoffrey Argyle/Chris Cobham (Team Total Lubricants)2:06:15;
4. Naren Kumar/D.Ramkumar (Naren Kumar) 2:12:14;
5. Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen (Team Total Lubricants) 2:18:54.

INRC
1: Lohit Urs/Bonnie Thomas 1:10:32;
2. Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (MRF Tyres)1:11:05.

1400cc:
1. Ranjith Ballal/Ramesh Kumar;
2. Phillipos Mathai/Ashwin Naik;
3. Jiby Maliakkal/Nikhil Pai.

Gypsy Cup:
1. Sandeep Sharma/Srikanth G M;
2. Along Aier/Ashok Agarwal;
3. Anil Wadia/Satinder Singh.
Rally Star Cup:
1. Jasbir Singh/Jatinder Nath;
2. Nitin Batra/Prashant Mehta.

Eom.
Following are the provisional results:
APRC overall:
Karamjit SinghAllen Oh (Team EON Petronas, Proton Pert) 2:01:17.5;
Katsuhiko Taguchi (Team MRF, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) 2:01:47.3;
Geoffrey Argyle/Chris Cobham (Team Total Lubricants, Mitsubishi Evo 8); 2:06:15.0;
Naren Kumar/D Ramkumar (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7) 2:12:14.5; Brian Green/Fleur Pedersen (Team Total Lubricants, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8).

INRC overall:
Lohit Urs/Bonnie Thomas (Maruti Baleno) 1:0:32.3;
Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Maruti Baleno) 1:11:01.5;
Ranjith Ballal/Ramesh Kumar (Maruti Esteem) 1:11:03.3.

1400cc:
Ranjith Ballal/Ramesh Kumar (Maruti Esteem) 1:11:03.3;
Philipos Mathai/Ashwin Naik (Maruti Esteem) 1:11:24.2;
Jiby Maliakkal/Nikhil Pai (Gulf Oil, Maruti Esteem) 1:12:51.8.

Gypsy Cup:
Sandeep Sharma/Srikanth (Maruti Gypsy) 1:14:47.6;
Along Aier/Asok Agarwal (Maruti Gypsy) 1:14:49.5.

Rally Star Cup:
Jasbir Singh/Jeetender Nath (Esteem) 1:19:33.4;
Nitin Batra/Prashant Mehta (Esteem) 1:20:03.9.


Two super special stages in MRF India Rally Pune, November 26:

With less than a week to go for the MRF India Rally (December 3 to 5), the concluding round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, activities in Pune have reached fever pitch to set the stage for India's biggest motorsport event.
According to Nazir Hoosein, chairman of the Himalayan Rally Association, organisers of the event, the containers of the various teams have started arriving in Pune and are beginning to get parked at Ganga Orchard, Mundhwa, the Pune Service Park for all rally activities.
"The competitors too have begun arriving in the city and work on the cars will begin shortly," said Hoosein.
According to Hoosein, work is also on in full swing at the grounds of Deccan College, which would be the venue for the Super Special Stages, to be held on Friday evening and Saturday evening, December 3 and 4.
The Super Special Stage, held in an enclosed space, is an ideal venue for the motorsport enthusiast to get a ringside view of superfast rally action without having to travel long distances where the special stages are usually held.




 

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