Six-time national champion to drive for Red Rooster Racing.
The Indian National Rally Championship is bound to be more exciting this time. Six-time national champion VR Naren Kumar has made a comeback and will drive for Red Rooster Racing (RRR) in the 2010 season.
He will be behind the wheels for the first time since taking part in the Production World Rally Championship for Team Sidvin India in 2008.
Kumar’s return will create a lot of excitement in rallying circles. RRR will also get some added muscle with him in their ranks.
With Vikram Mathias, Amittrajit Ghosh — their two current drivers — and Naren Kumar, it should be a formidable team to counter the likes of Team MRF, who boast of a strong line-up comprising reigning national champion Gaurav Singh Gill, Lohit Urs and Arjun Balu.
More than bolstering the team, youngsters such as Karna Kadur, who won the Rally Star Cup last year, will hugely benefit from Naren’s presence in the team.
N Leelakrishnan, who is in charge of preparing cars at RRR, and Naren Kumar have had a long professional relationship since their days at MRF and JK Tyres. Given the nature of the sport, good rapport and understanding between a driver and tuner can work wonders.
Kumar will most likely drive a Mitsubishi Cedia, which will be prepared at the RRR facility in Bangalore. He won the national titles in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 with Team MRF and in 2005 and 2006 with Team JK Tyres. He has won the Asia Zone title in 2001.
The resident of Coimbatore was last seen in action in a rally car in the 2008 PWRC event in Japan after which Sidvin roped in the services of Gill. Not having competed after that, the question could very well be if he will be rusty.
That’s a hypothetical question but what is certain is that he is not likely to be overawed by the competition since the current lot is more or less the same one that he last competed.
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