Now, the other Naren to take on the world

MUMBAI: If one were blind and sitting in the small room where Sidvin Coretech company’s managing director Mohan Nagarajan announced the arrival of “very promising Coimbatore lad Naren on the world scene”, he would have been excused for thinking that Narain Karthikeyan has finally made it.

But unlike the fastest Indian in F1, it is actually his lesser-known city mate Naren Kumar who can now boast of being the first Indian in an Indian car after Vijay Mallya’s Force India opted for foreign drivers. That was, of course, in F1. Naren Kumar will drive for Team Sidvin India (TSI) in the World Rally Championship’s Production Class (P-WRC), the second tier of the elitist event in the rallying format of motorsport.

“Naren was talented and it was heart-breaking not to see him in WRC where he deserved to be much earlier. But yes, the major decision happened after Force India came on the scene. Also, we had Indians in A1 GP and GP2 but not in rallying. That’s why we decided to go for it,” said Nagarajan.

But Nagarajan and even FIA’s Indian vice-president Nazir Hoosein reiterated that rallying was more spectacular, difficult and challenging owing to many natural elements involved, as compared to F1. And it is in this lesser-known format that Sidvin Coretech has taken the plunge. The technical and vehicle support will be provided by Tommi Makinen Racing, owned by four-time WRC champion Makinen from Finland.

Naren, a six-time Indian National Rallying champion, will be driving a Subaru car in the Group N class (see details about format) and has 36 rallies under his belt including a third-place finish in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship at Johor, Malaysia, last year. Naren had test-driven for Subaru, the top-most car, last year and had talks with Fiat Abarth in 2006 but things never materialised.

“I think the win in Malaysia, India’s presence in F1 and Sidvin’s keenness settled the issue this time around,” admitted Naren.

According to the team management, the ball started rolling not more than four months back and things fell in place like a jiffy — a miracle in this sport of too many logistics. Still, it became a touch-and-go affair in the end despite TMR coming in as a solid pillar of support.

“There were only two slots (out of 30) left, two days before the deadline. By the time we managed to fax our application, one was already filled. If we were late by six hours, we could’ve missed the bus,” revealed Naren later.

Another wheel of luck that rolled in TSI’s favour was the schedule. With a late entry in a sport, where preparation is the most vital ingredient, TSI has decided to opt for only six out of eight events on the calendar. The rules say that points generated from any six races will count. To save costs, TSI will skip the first two events.

“It saves us the trouble and time to transport the car across these venues, helps us prepare and best of all, it ensures that the all-important rhythm of the driver is not interrupted,” Nagrajan said. On a two-year-lifeline, Naren now has six races to go all out and prove that he’s indeed a worthy contender to drive in the WRC. All the best.

Finnish connection
Tommi Makinen comes from the land of drivers, Finland. The knowledgeable breed is now behind Naren. Interestingly, the four-time champion on a Mitsubishi car drove Subaru cars in the last two years of his career and came out winless though he will now be helping TSI on Subaru cars.

Also, India’s own and Naren’s contemporary, N Leelakrishnan, will be the technical director of the team and be the conduit between the two. Speaking on the occasion and to highlight the difference between racing and rallying, Makinen had an interesting incident to relate about him and Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn in F1.

“We are close friends. Once he came out with me and we rallied in separate cars. I came in faster! Then he sat next to me and I went flat out taking real sharp turns. When he tried his hand at the maneuver, the car toppled over twice before coming to rest,” Makinen recalled.