| K-1000 Day-1: Mathias takes lead |
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Bangalore, 3rd Dec, 2010
Source: toi.bangalore
On a drama-filled opening day in the fourth round of the Indian National Rally Championship, Vikram Mathias of Red Rooster Racing took a comfortable 41-second lead over Lohitt Urs of Team MRF at Siddlaghatta, near here, on Friday.
Mathias (co-driver Srinivasa Murthy), who staged a splendid comeback to
take the day’s honours, said he was happy with his show. “I didn’t find
anything wrong with the surface. I could have increased the lead but I
slowed down after I saw my teammate Naren Kumar drop out of the race in
the fourth stage,” said Mathias. “I didn’t want to take any risk. So I
drove carefully,” added Mathias. The Bangalorean was 27 seconds behind
Naren after the first two stages, but he took a 20-second lead in the
third stage and widened it further in the fourth.But more than the action on the track, the K-1000 rally, a contender event for the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, saw plenty off it. As seven cars got off the blocks in the first special stage in the morning, the contractor, who undertook the construction work of the road, stopped the rally. The organizers had no option but to cancel the stage. Later, they awarded scratch time of 8:09.0 seconds to the rest of the teams. However, more trouble was in store for the organizers as 20 cars pulled out of the race, citing the condition of the surface. In between came the shocking news that the FIA observer and APRC coordinators, who were here to inspect K-1000’s preparedness to host an APRC event, decided to withdraw the license for the contendership event. However, Praneeth Perumal, chairman, Rally Commission, FMSCI, said the panel has not taken a final decision. “It is too early to comment on the issue,” he said. Gaurav Gill, however, must be ruing his luck with the drive shaft, which spoilt his chances once again in the domestic circuit. The 2010 season APRC runner-up, who could not finish the race in Coimbatore and Jodhpur earlier this year owing to the same problem, dropped out in the first stage itself. However, Lohitt Urs (Srikanth Gowda) and Arjun Aroor (Satish K Rajagopal) kept Team MRF’s hopes alive when they finished second and third. Arjun, who clocked 58:18.4 seconds, said he could have taken the lead had he used tyres for the wet surface. “I went with regular tyres for a wet surface,” said Arjun, who clocked the fastest time in stage four. |
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