Naren Kumar 20th after first day of Ultimate Acropolis Rally

Athens, May 31 (UNI) Indian driver Naren Kumar got off to a steady start to move to the 20th spot at the end of the first day on his debut WRC event in the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally of Greece here.

In a event that took heavy toll on cars, the Indian rally ace produced a creditable performance to avoid trouble in the Sixth Special Stage of the production car series in the third round of the PWRC.

Naren gained four places from the beginning of the day. Stage 7 is still going on.

The strategy of the team from the outset has been to bring home the car safely in every stage. To that extent Naren played the script to perfection and ensured that he stayed out of trouble.

High temperatures and rough terrain played havoc on the cars.

PWRC Championship leader Jari Katomaa, who is Naren's teammate from Tammi Makinen racing, had to stop in the fifth stage as his car was heating up.

Anticipating problems going into the sixth stage, the team think tank asked Naren to switch of the turbo anti-lag in order to conserve the engine. As a result the Coimbatore driver was forced to slow down. He also lost GPS tracking system in the stage.

Leading the charge of the PWRC drivers after the completion of Six stages is Nasser Al-Attiyah, who opened up a lead of 9,3 seconds at the end of Psatha Special Stage 2 (SS6).

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