Naren Kumar tops in Coimbatore rally
By IANSSunday, August 8, 2010
COIMBATORE - Former national champion Naren Kumar (co-driver D. Ramkumar) of Red Rooster Racing marked his comeback by winning the overall title in the Speed Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the Speed Indian National Rally Championship, here Sunday.
In a modified Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia, the Coimbatore duo, returning to rallying after a three-season break, turned the tide for Red Rooster Racing with a facile win ahead of team-mate Vikram Mathias (co-driver PV Srinivas Murthy) and Team MRF’s Arjun Balu (co-driver Sujith Kumar BS).
Reigning champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF, who dropped out of contention with retirement Saturday, returned to the fray in a bid for leg points, but his presence had little impact on the outcome.
Team Ovion Racing’s Sujay Suresh (co-driver Bharath SM), driving a stock Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia won the honours in the 2000cc (Group N) class while Vikram Devadasan (co-driver Shivaprakash) finished second followed by Chetan Shivaram (co-driver Roopesh Kholay).
Provisional un-audited Classification:
Overall/2000cc Group N+: 1. Naren Kumar / Ram Kumar, Red Rooster Racing, 1hr, 35mins, 58.3secs; 2. Vikram Mathias / PV Srinivasa Murthy, Red Rooster Racing, 1:36:32.7; 3. Arjun Balu/ Sujit Kumar BS, Team MRF, 1:39:27.4.
2000cc (Group N): 1. Sujay Suresh / Bharath SM, Ovion Racing, 1: 46: 53.9; 2. Vikram Devadasen/ Shivaprakash E, Pvt, 1:51: 21.5; 3. Chethan Shivaram/ Roopesh Kholay, Pvt, 1: 54: 47.2.
1600cc: 1. Shailendar Hegde/ Sheraz Ahmed, pvt, 1: 52:32.7; 2. Vishal GA/ Robinson R George, pvt, 1: 52: 55.9; 3. Ranjith Gopinath/ Dileep R, pvt, 1: 54: 55.7.
1400cc: 1. Dr Bikku Babu/ Bonnie Thomas, pvt, Kerala, 1: 49:59.0; 2. Byram Godrej/ Anjay Kapadia, pvt, 1:50:18.6; 3. Monish L /Jeevarathinam J, 1:58:43.9.
Rally Star Cup: 1. Phalguna Urs/ Anoop Kumar, pvt, 1: 52:25.1; 2. Harikesav N/Ashvin Nadig,
pvt, 1: 53:38.3; 3. Venkatapathy MR/ Santtosh Kumar S, 1: 55:16.9.
Gypsy: 1. Maj Amarinder S Brar/ Himanshu Pareek, Army Adventure Wing 1: 53:34.6; 2. Shakti Bajaj/ Dharmesh Singh, Army AW, 1: 56: 22.2; 3. Harpreet Singh Sidhu/ Sanjay B Gokhale, 1: 56: 54.5.
