Naren Kumar, one of the India's most successful Rally drivers in a chat with iSport. He shares his top picks of WRC in 2009 and of course the big Q of WRC in 2010 - how well will Kimi Raikkonen fare in the WRC? Kunal Shah edits this exciting read...
iSport: How was your 2009? Personally and from a rally driver’s perspective?
Naren: 2009 was very quiet! It was a welcome break after 16 years of rallying. In a way it was also that I had enough with rallying. Personally, it was very good to take the time off and spend time in my business.
iSport: We didn’t see you participate in the INRC 09 – any reasons that you opted out?
Naren: No particular reason, but I did not even give it a thought.
iSport: Any bigger plans in the offing?
Naren: Nothing at all, I am not even working towards any!
iSport: 2008 was the year that you debuted in the PWRC. How was your stint with Team Sidvin India?
Naren: I would like to thank Team Sidvin India for the opportunity. It went well until it lasted. There were constant improvements as the season progressed. Unfortunately, it didn’t continue for 2 years as planned.
iSport: How do you rate your performances in the PWRC?
Naren: As mentioned there were good improvements at every Rally and the best performance came during our last rally in Japan. We had our best stage time (3rd fastest), and also ran in the top 5 for some time in the beginning of the rally, considering it was the strongest field in the history of the PWRC, it was a great drive!
iSport: Any major learnings from the PWRC that you could share with iSport Rallying fans and with budding Rally drivers?
Naren: It’s an all new level of rallying; I hope the federation changes the rules so that the change from INRC to PWRC is not a big jump in terms of the car. This is the problem I faced initially.
iSport: How was it working alongside Tommy Makkinen?
Naren: Great to drive for his team, though it was his engineers who did most of our work, he is still a great person and a legend. I am honoured to have met him and driven for his team.
iSport: Team Sidvin India is now all wrapped up – what do you think went wrong?
Naren: The team had their reasons which I am not fully aware of.
iSport: 6 times National Rally Champion with 2 runners-up – do you think you deserved a better shot in the APRC and WRC? Better support from sponsors / govt.?
Naren: For sure, it would have been a completely different and better result for me and for rallying in India if we had the right support, we could have finished much higher in the PWRC.
iSport: How was your APRC stint? Any memories that you’d like to share?
Naren: It was my first full year in a 4WD [4 Wheel Drive] car, after driving the INRC for 14 years, so it was a big learning curve getting used to the fast cars that accelerated from 0 – 100 in 5 sec!!
iSport: Who do you think is the next-best in line to take over your mantle of ‘India’s best Rally Driver’?
Naren: There are many, but Vikram [Mathias] and Gaurav [Gill] are the future.
iSport: Do you think Rallying in India has come of age? Or the standards can still be improved?
Naren: It still has a long way to go, in many aspects, faster cars, better stages, etc.
iSport: 2011 – WRC to come to India? What are your thoughts?
Naren: I don’t think so, we still have a very long way to go, before we can think of WRC.
iSport: Your favourite Rally driver
Naren: Mikko Hirvonen – current. Tommi Makkinen and Colin Mcrae.
iSport: Kimi to WRC in 2010 – what do you expect? Good move / Will he perform? How diff are the two forms of motorsport?
Naren: Its not easy to switch from F1 to rallying, he will be amongst the top 10 but to win will be very very tough. Here the cars don’t matter as much as in F1. As a sport, they still have one thing which is common “speed” but rallying needs more car control and F1 needs precision.
iSport: Your plans in 2010 [any plans of a racing academy, any races that you will participate in?]
Naren: Not sure yet!
iSport: Message for iSport Fans
Naren: Rallying is very exciting, keep watching WRC !!!
Click here to read Naren's Top WRC Picks of 2009!
(The author is a former racer and currently works with Sport18 - a div. of Network18. Kunal can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
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