Reigning National champion V R Naren Kumar yet again underlined his status as the best in the country with some superb driving that saw him finish the first leg of the MRF Taj Challenge Rally in a strong position in Nasik on Saturday.

The 28-year old Team MRF ace from Coimbatore, who had Moosa Sherif as co-driver, was off to a cautious start in his Honda City V-Tec when he finished the first of the four Special Stages third, behind team-mates N  Leelakrishnan (co-driver Farooq Ahmed) and Karandip Singh (co-driver Jaidas Menon).

However, thereafter, he stepped on the accelerator to leave the pack behind, clocking the best time on the remaining three Special Stages.

In overall second position, a good 32 seconds behind Naren Kumar, was a cautious Arjun Balu (co-driver Kumar Ramaswamy), but just five seconds ahead of Rahul Kantharaj (co-driver Vivek Bhatt), who are competing in the 1300cc class in an MPFI Esteem.

Meanwhile, Team MRF suffered two casualties. Seven times national champion Leelakrishnan, coming over a crest at top speed, missed a corner and went off the road on SS-3.

Team-mate Vikram Mathias (co-driver Sujith Kumar) retired on SS-1 with a broken drive-shaft for their second straight DNF (Did Not Finish), following a similar result in the first round at Chikmagalur last month.

The event also doubles up as the second round of the Motorsports Association of India's 2003 Indian National Rally Championship (INRC).