New Delhi/Goa, November 18 2006: Team JK Tyre's Naren Kumar further strengthened his credentials as the champion rally driver of the country when he drove away to his sixth overall National Rally Championship after winning the WIAA Rallye De Goa 2006, the final round of the MAI's Indian National Rally Championship, which concluded in Panaji, here, on Sunday.

Gaurav Gill, who finished overall second here, scored 12 points and finished second in the National championship with 43, while Karandeep who got six points from this round finished third with 40.

Riding easy on the overnight lead of 1 minute 20 seconds over third placed Karandeep Singh, Naren did just enough to keep himself in the fray without unnecessarily pushing his machine and finished the eight stages in a timing of 1: 11.24; 11 seconds ahead of teammate Gaurav Gill/Farooq Ahmed (1:11.35) Team JK Tyre. Team MRF's Lohit Urs finished overall third in 1:13.04, while Karandeep Singh was fourth in 1:13.26.

The 1400 cc category saw Girijashankar Joshy hold on to his huge overnight lead to win the title here and with it the National crown. The same was the case in the Rally Star Cup with Rajesh Gadakh/Paritosh Kohok winning this round and with it the National title.

JK Tyre's Naren Kumar's win has taken his points tally to 45, and the six-times National champion described his 2006 campaign as "incredible". "There were just too many ups and downs this season and I am very satisfied with my win," said the articulate Naren in his post-event comments. When asked about his strategy going into the race, Naren said, "I had to finish ahead of Karandeep in both the legs and hope somebody would settle between me and him. That happened yesterday, after which it was a no contest."

However, the champion is not too optimistic about his future prospects in the INRC and said, "If I have a better opportunity, I wouldn't want to be here again. The offer still stands from the Fiat Factory team to drive the production rally in the WRC. I just have to raise sufficient money, but it's been a great struggle."

Karandeep Singh rued the lost chance in Chandigarh, his not finishing the rally costing him dearly. "Even in 2003, the Chandigarh round proved decisive for me and so too here. I could have sealed the championship had I finished in Chandigarh. Here, I was totally outclassed as the Cedia was just too powerful." On his second day's driving Karandeep said, "I just concentrated on saving my car and finishing the rally to conserve my third place in the National championship."

For Joshy, last year's Rally Star champion, it was a successful transition into the 1400 cc category and the champion now hopes to try his skills in the 1600 cc next year, while Rajesh Gadakh made a successful return to the Rally Star Cup after one year, winning the National title.


Following are the provisional results:

Overall: Naren Kumar/D Ram Kumar (Team JK Tyre, Cedia) 1:11.24; Gaurav Gill/Faoorq Ahmed (Team JK Tyre, Cedia) 1:11.35; Lohit Urs/Moosa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno) 1: 13.04; Karandeep Singh/Jaidas Menon (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:13.26; Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Fiesta) 1:14.23.

1600 cc: Lohit Urs/Moosa Sherief (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:13.04; Karandeep Singh/Jaidas Menon (Team MRF, Baleno) 1:13.26; Arjun Balu/Kumar Ramaswamy (Team MRF, Fiesta) 1: 14.23.

1400cc: Girijashankar Joshy/Srikanth GM (Esteem) 1:15.26; Shreshta Patil/Ramesh Kumar (Esteem) 1:19.55; Domnic Prithvi/Chandrashekar M (Esteem) 1: 24.06.

Rally Star Cup: Rejash Gadakh/ParithoshKohok (esteem) 1:19.11; Abhijeet Pai/Prajval Pai (Esteem) 1:20.25; Thirtha Patil/Jeevarathinam (esteem) 1: 21.09.

Gypsy Cup: Suresh Rana/H S Bawa 1:22.54; Khushwant Randhawa/Amandeep 1:24.34; Suchi Thakur/Zuzer Rangwala 1:32.20.