Aroor takes overall win in INRC finale amid last leg drama

Watching Karamjit Singh's developmental Volkswagen Polo R2 fly through the rough and twisty stages of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) round in Chikmagalur, it was pretty clear that the Malaysian and co-driver Jagdev Singh had to just bring the car home to win. Even more so on the second and final leg of the rally on Saturday.

However, neither of them counted on all three bolts holding up the lower arm of the suspension on the left-front side to come out and bring the car to a halt on the very final of the rally's ten special stages.

Watching the Malaysian take slow and measured steps while puffing on a cigarette, looking crestfallen was a telling sight. Even though it was only the second rally for the R2, which is still very much in development, he wanted to post the overall win in the rally.

At 51 years of age, and with a FIA Production World Rally Championship title and three Asia Pacific Rally Championship titles under his belt, he doesn't have much to prove. However, it didn't stop him from heading over to the crowd of VW mechanics to find out what exactly was wrong with the R2 after it was unceremoniously towed back to the service park.

VW still had reason to cheer as Arjun Rao Aroor and co-driver Satish Rajagopal took not only the win in the INRC 1600 class, but was going fast enough to inherit the win following Singh's dramatic retirement that caused the final stage of the rally to be cancelled.

IRC

With Karamjit Singh's retirement, Sumit Punjabi and co-driver Venu Rames Kumar V took the win in the IRC class ahead of Syam Chellapan and co-driver Sob George's Maruti-Suzuki Baleno.

The gruelling rally that saw not only Singh but also the infamous Samir Thapar and co-driver Gurinder Singh Mann's Mitsubishi Lancer Evo drop out led to Punjabi and Chellapan being the only two finishers in the IRC class. No one was left running to take third place!

Both Singh and his co-driver Jagdev Singh admitted to feeling the car become unstable during the second stage of the second leg, which prompted them to stop and check the car to spot the problem.

After not seeing an obvious problem the two decided to keep going slowly as they were holding a four-minute lead to Aroor at the end of the ninth stage. Disaster struck with just two kilometers of the rally left to run, however and the car came to a halt before being towed away.

INRC 2000

Vikram Devadasen and co-driver Ashwin Naik in a Mitsubishi Cedia took the win in the INRC 2000 class ahead of the Cedias of Prithvi Dominic and co-driver Ravindra MS and Dr. Bikku Babu and co-driver George Verghese.

The trio were the only cars classified in the rally up until the ninth and penultimate special stage, prior to the tenth and final stage being cancelled after Karamjit Singh's stricken VW Polo R2 was found to be obstructing the path of those following him.

Devadasen was the only driver out of the INRC 2000 field to complete the nine stages in under two hours.

INRC 1600

The pair of Aroor and Rajagopal led home Sirish Chandran and co-driver Nikhil V Pai's VW Slideways Industries VW Polo ahead of Hrishikesh J Thackersey and co-driver Ninad Mirajgaonkar, also in a Polo.

The trio as well as the Mitsubishi Cedia of fourth placed Phalguna V Urs and co-driver Anoop Kumar posted faster overall times over the nine stages than both the finishers of the IRC class. And indication of the growing prowess of the VW Polo, especially on twisty stages that require good handling over older machinery like the Cedia and Baleno.

However, the costs of acquiring, outfitting and maintaining a Polo for rallying is still something of a stumbling block for some rallyists.

JINRC

The junior class of the INRC saw the pair of Rohan Pawar and Arjun Mehta in a VW Polo take the win ahead of the Maruti-Suzuki Esteems of Dhruva C and co-driver Roopesh BC and Ashika Menezes and co-driver V. Lokesh Gowda.

Suhem MK and co-driver Jeevarathinam J were leading at the end of leg one but were forced to drop down to fourth following mechanical trouble that saw them lose almost 19 minutes to Pawar and Mehta.

SUVNRC

Battling a fever, Sunny Sidhu took the win in the SUV National Rally Championship class along with co-driver Srinivas Murthy PV ahead of Mahindra Adventure teammate Lohit Urs and co-driver Bonnie Thomas.

Electrical problems and trouble from a leg injury sustained a little over two weeks ago kept the third XUV 500 of Gaurav Gill and co-driver Musa Sherif out of action following their retirement in the fourth stage of the rally on Friday.

Sidhu's pace was good enough for him to take second in the overall classification, beaten only by the more agile VW Polo of Aroor, by just over a minute.