Bangalore, Nov 17: Chandigarh-based Karandip Singh (co-driver Jaidas Menon) of Team MRF finally broke a jinx and notched his first win in nearly two years as he finished first overall in the Movva Rally de Bangalore, a round of the Mai Indian National rally championship, here yesterday.
Driving a Honda City V-Tec, Karandip, whose last success in a national championship event in 2001 when he won the Karnataka-1000, was in his elements and saw off a late challenge from reigning national champion and team-mate V R Naren Kumar (co-driver Ramkumar) to emerge a convincing winner.
"It certainly is a nice feeling, and I am happy that I finally broke my jinx by winning here. It has been a frustrating season, as I could not capitalise on winning positions at Chikmagalur, Nashik and Chandigarh rallies. Today, I was not very comfortable on the first two special stages, but thereafter, I stepped up the pace," said the modest Karandip, the national champion in group N (unmodified) class back in 2000.
Meanwhile, Naren Kumar confirmed his third national championship title by finishing third behind Karandip and Arjun Balu (co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy), also of Team MRF.
Naren had previously won the national championship in the years 2000 and 2001. The third place finish was sufficient for Naren, the 29-year old from Coimbatore, to clinch the national title with a tally of 68 points with just one more round of the INRC to be gone through in Pune (Dec 5-7).



He has aggregated 68 points to Balu's 47 and Karandip's 44. The maximum number of points on offer in an INRC event is 16 (10 for win and three each for the two legs).



"It is a great relief to have the national championship race behind me. And I now look forward to a more relaxed approach for the final round at Pune next month. Yes, it certainly is a great feeling, but I would have loved to have clinched the championship by winning here in Bangalore rather than finish third," said Naren.



Trailing by 53 seconds overnight to Karandip, Naren stepped up the pace yesterday and made up 58 seconds before suffering a puncture on the penultimate special stage that cost him 20 seconds as he slid from second to third position.


Bureau Report