Friday, Dec 06, 2002
Friday, Dec 06, 2002 |
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Racing : Motor
By D. Ravi Shankar
Naren, driving a Mitsubishi Evo VII, will have a slight edge over his fellow competitors, as he is familiar with the terrain over leg one of the rally. However, Naren's advantage of the knowledge of the terrain may be nullified by the fact that he has had absolutely no time to get the feel of the car that he will be driving as it reached Bangalore from Customs clearance on Thursday morning. The MRF India Rally's real importance is that it is a candidate round for the 2003 Asia Pacific Rally championship. A team of officials from Federation Internationale de L'Automobile (FIA) which includes Adrian Stafford (Observer), Van Heping (Steward) and Clyde Carstairs (Technical Delegate) along with Surendar Thatti (Chairman of Stewards) from the Kenya Rally Association will appraise the conduct of the Rally and submit their report. "The result of their recommendations will be made available within four to six weeks and whether Bangalore gets the Asia Pacific or otherwise will be known only then,'' said Richard Seth-Smith at the press conference this morning. The initial spadework for the rally was done by Peter Silber Berg, Paul Willans and Shahna Abbot who have been shuttling back and forth to ensure a smooth conduct of the event. For racing enthusiasts in Bangalore, the MRF India Rally 2002 will be a great opportunity to witness top-class cars in the International section. The four-wheel drives of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo (III, V, VI and VII) along with the Subaru GC 8 and the Subaru Impreza 555 will lock horns for the top honours. With the International section taking the flag-off first, the Indian cars could end up with a disadvantage, as the top surface on the roads would be eroded. Kiwis, Stewart Warren and Darryl Judd, who have landed in the city fresh after their stint at Thailand, lead the international contingent, which includes Gerard McGroarty, a Scottish-born Australian (Karl Francis co-driver), Ross Mackenzie (Paul van der May), Robert Whyatt (Malcolm Cox) and Michael Civil (Cathy Civil) all from Australia and the two teams from China, Weizhi Huang (Jun Ge) and Lang Xu (Guangyuan Men). Apart from the International section, the INRC championship will also be conducted concurrently. There are 18 contenders in the INRC event all of which are in the Group `N' category. Leelakrishnan along with co-driver Farooq Ahmed, Karandip Singh with Jaidas Menon, Arjun Balu with Kumar Ramaswamy and Vikram Mathias with co-driver Sujit Kumar will be the cynosure of all eyes. All the aforementioned teams will be driving Honda City V-Tecs. Jiby Malickal, Lohit Urs and Biku Babu will essay their challenges in the Maruti Esteems along with their co-drivers. The ceremonial flag off was held in front of the Vidhana Soudha at 5.30 p.m. on Thursday. Stewart Warren was the first to be flagged off by Dr. G Parameswarappa, Minister for Education. Warren was followed by McGroarty and his co-driver. India's Naren Kumar drew the biggest applause. The Chinese duo of Lang Xu and Guangyuan Men had a mild hiccup as their car's fuel pump played up and the car refused to start. It was pushed onto the parc ferme and flagged off and hopefully their technicians should get it ready for the actual event on Friday morning. Meanwhile, according to a reliable source, the FIA Council will meet on December 13 and Bangalore's chances of being on the Asia Pacific Rally Championship calendar for 2003 may well be decided. Japan also is a contender for the APRC event and both India and Japan may get the approval from the FIA Council. The rally proper will commence on Friday and run through three special stages. The route will traverse Jangamankote past the Indian Mines, Khoday distilleries off Kanakpura road and the route includes surfaces like plantation areas with gravel and clay surfaces, twisty tight mine roads with gradients and surface changes, dusty tracks and forest settings consisting of dips and climbs on clay, gravel and rock-based roads. The rally concludes on Sunday with the prize distribution scheduled for 3.30 p.m.
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