Velappan Rajendran Naren Kumar is a seven-time

Indian National Rally Championship Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) is a rallying National Championship in different classes with a series of rounds, organised under the aegis of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), which is the Governing Body or ASN ...

Champion and two-time runner-up and Asia Zone Champion from

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

, India. Kumar started his career as a privateer in 1993 and was quickly picked up by Team MRF, operated by another Rally driver N. Leelakrishnan. Naren Kumar is also the first Indian from India to compete in the WRC championship (in Group N Category) driving a factory-supported works

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World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

for Team Sidvin India (supported by Four time

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WWRC, a radio station (570 AM) l ...

Rally Champion

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. After a 4-year gap he entered the 2010 INRC championship in its second season and winning his last title. He announced his retirement from Rallying in 2011.

National Championship

In India, he won four championships for Team MRF, including an Asia Zone Championship in

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then switched to Team JK, who themselves reappeared into the rallying scene after a seven-year gap, just to sponsor Naren and won another two championships. Yet Naren won the 2005 crown for JK in a rally tyre pulled out of their old stock. Naren Kumar

He won the National Championships in the years 2010, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 and Runner-up in 2001 and 2004 which was mainly due APRC Commitments.

International Championships

Asia Pacific

Currently (2007) Naren is participating in the 2007 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, and is within top 5 places. His entry as a privateer with part support from Sidvin and Red Rooster Racing made him the top title contender among the other privateers, while all his close rivals are factory teams. He however finished fourth in the championships and with a podium (Second overall) and by the end of the season he was invited for a test drive by

Subaru is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first largest aut ...

World Rally Team.

World Rally Championship

Team Abarth offer

In 2005 the Italian team and

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Lancia Lancia Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, which is the European subsidiary of Stellantis. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganise ...

tuning specialist

Abarth Abarth & C. S.p.A. () is an Italian racing- and road-car maker and performance division founded by Italo-Austrian Carlo Abarth in 1949. Abarth & C. S.p.A. is owned by Stellantis through its Italian subsidiary. Abarth's logo is a shield with a ...

offered a drive for Naren. But he could not raise the required sponsorship at that time and opted for APRC.

Subaru WRC Testing

During the end of 2007 APRC season where Team Subaru impressed with his driving skills offered him a test drive session. The early month of October 2007 saw Naren in

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, England testing for the new

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing "standard" large-scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...

World Rally for Subaru World Rally Team.

Production Car World Rally Championship (P-WRC)

In early February 2008, Team Sidvin was launched technical and vehicle support from four-time world rally champion

's Racity Oy Limited. Naren Kumar will start in the Production Car World Rally Championship (P-WRC) series run alongside the regular WRC series. Naren Kumar will be driving a

. His main sponsor will be the

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-based oil and gas company Sidvin Core-Tech. During mid-season Naren was replaced by Gaurav Gill from India who added more Did-Not-Finish to the team. Naren Kumar and Tomi Makinen

Return to Indian National Rally Championship (INRC)

After a 2-year hiatus Naren returned to a full season of INRC in the newly formed team Red Rooster racing. Tuned by ace tuner and rallyist N. Leela Krishnan, Naren actually joined the second rally in the season and easily winning the 2010 title, thus making him the most successful Four Wheeler Rally champion in India.

Retirement

For the 2011 season Team Red Rooster Racing withdrew from motorsports, thus leaving only team MRF and some privateers in the title bid. Naren Kumar on 22 July 2011, finally announced his retirement from Rallying just few days short of his 37th birthday.

Sources

Personal Profile in FIA site
https://web.archive.org/web/20081014032043/http://www.fiaaprc.com/images/stories/aprc07_comp_profile_n_kumar.pdf]
Article in HinduInterview in ''Mumbai Mirror''

RetirementThe Hindu: Final titleDriver Profile & Interview in www.rally.co.in website
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, V. R. Naren Indian rally drivers Tamil sportspeople Telugu people Living people 1975 births World Rally Championship drivers Sportspeople from Coimbatore