Pune, Dec 07: Setting a scorching pace, Karamjit took 14 seconds off Kremer, the 2001 European champion. In the day`s first special stage (SS-6), a further 54 seconds in SS-7 to retake the lead he had Friday until a puncture cost him two minutes.
"It was basically a technical problem and I was stuck in third gear for nearly 10 kms of SS-7 and also the next stage. It has been a tiring day for me, with the stages being long, narrow and tricky," Kremer said.
"However, we only need to finish second overall to win the Asia Pacific Championship and that is not too bad a position to be in. But then, I need to keep an eye on Nutahara who might be starting again tomorrow to try for some points," he said at the final service halt.
Nutahara, after crashing out Friday, started leg two yesterday, but half-way through SS-7, the gearbox of his Evo 7 gave away forcing him to retire for the day. However, he plans to restart on the morrow.
Karamjit had no such issues, though he had to come to terms with a soft suspension and some brake problems. "We have had no punctures, no big problems. So I`m pretty happy with our performance," said Karamjit.



Meanwhile, two top New Zealand entries, Geof Argyle (co-driver Steve Smith) of Racetech Seats and Andrew Hawkeswood (co-driver Paul Fallon) of Force Motorsport Ltd, dropped out of contention.



Provisional/unaudited classification after leg 2:



APRC overall: 1. Team Petronas Eon Racing (Karamjit Singh/Allen Oh (3 hrs, 9 mins, 29.3 secs); 2. Team MRF Tyres (Armin Kremer/Fred Berssen) (3:10:59.0); 3. Domenico Caldarola/Paolo Cecchini (3:14:44.7); 4. Team MRF Tyres (David Doppelreiter/Ola Floene) (3:20:02.2); 5. Team Racetech Seats (Geof Argyle/Steve Smit) (3:29:15.1); 6. Team Monster Sport Australia (Chris Atkinson/Ben Atkinson) (3:33:03.2); 7. Team Force Motorsport Ltd (Brian Green/ Fleur Pedersen) (3:43:54.5).



APRC Group N (unmodified): 1. Kremer/Berssen; 2. Caldarola/ Cecchini; 3. Doppelreiter/Floene.



Leg 2 points: Karamjit Singh (3 pts), Kremer (2 pts), Caldarola (1 point). Total points after leg 2: Kremer 5, Karamjit 5, Caldarola 2.


Bureau Report