Well, not just F1, India will soon be there in the World Rally Championship as well. | |
| Indian rallying has never had it so good. After a strong performance in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship over the last few years, a few Indians like Naren Kumar have been making an attempt to get into the WRC support series like S2000 and Group N-4. |
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| He nearly grabbed an opportunity to drive a Fiat Punto in 2006 in S2000, before talks fell through. Nevertheless, he pursued matters, and this year, just a couple of hours before the last slot for Group N-4 was bid for, Sidvin Core-Tech, Naren's backers in APRC bought a seat for the six-time Indian National Rally champion. It also happened to be the 28th and the last seat for the Group. |
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| Surely Naren must have heaved a sigh of relief for his efforts, though the battle has just begun. He now begins his search for a good co-driver, preferably a European with knowledge of the rounds and their terrain. |
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| The pressure won't be immense to begin with, as Naren has nominated to be in the last six of the eight round championship, the first of which begins only four months from now when the third round of the Production WRC commences in Acropolis, Greece. |
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| To further ease the pressure on the Indian is Tommi Makinen, the great four-time WRC champion and his outfit Tommi Makinen Racing. Tommi will help with the management and outfitting of the car, while his entire staff of over 20 people provide technical and training assistance to Naren. |
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| Due to Tommi's connections with Subaru and STI, Naren will be driving a fully prepped Group N-4 2008 spec Subaru Impreza. Tommi will also support the drive of Finnish driver Jari Ketomaa for PWRC, though it won't be in conflict with Naren. |
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| PWRC forms the second rung, below WRC, but is just as competitive. The cars don't make as much power or are as performance oriented as WRC cars, but feature some enhancements from their showroom form, namely tyres, roll-cage, exhaust, rally-spec suspension and other tuning bits. Unlike WRC and its 15 rounds, PWRC isn't as taxing, instead alternating rounds with the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) where the Suzuki Swift has made its mark. |
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| With Tommi Makinen's support, Naren stands a bright chance at leaving a strong impression in PWRC. And with Team Sidvin and mentor N Leelakrishnan to egg him on, he has a very strong base to make a push for WRC in 2010. |
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| For Naren, the challenge would be to be competitive all the time, especially with well-known drivers like Toshi Arai ('05, '07 PWRC champion), Travis Pastrana from USA, '06 Brit champion Mark Higgins and Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar ('06 PWRC champion) who too will drive at the limit to score maximum points. |
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| Naren also has no experience of driving in four of the six rounds, except Japan and Australia. That's not a hindrance but can be a psychological advantage for his rivals. Though Naren has time and again surprised the APRC contingent with strong performances and that could well work in his favour too. |
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| But as Tommi Makinen says, luck is a small factor, talent and preparation are more important at this high a stage. We shall get to see more of that on May 29, when Rally Acropolis is flagged off. |
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