India's Sanjay Takale and his navigator Musa Sheriff braved a gear box failure, a tyre burst and rugged terrain to become the first pair from the country to win the A6 class championship in the 2012 Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in Longyou, China.
According to information received here, Takale and Sheriff logged 16 points including four bonus points in the season ending China Longyou rally over the weekend to take their season tally to 81 from five rallies and top the A6 class category.
However, the problems in the season-ending rally cost them a spot on the podium of the overall two-wheel drive class.
The team can only take consolation in the fact that they are the first Indian combination to finish this high in the championship.
"We ran very steady to finish the competition. For us, it was important to finish it in spite of technical failures," Takale said after reaching Kuala Lumpur, the home base of his team MRU Motorsports.
"But I regret not getting the podium. In fact, I would really like to win the competition. I am really happy to come here and get the annual championship," said Takale, for whom 2012 was a rookie year in the APRC after driving in the Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand, as a wild card entrant in 2011.
In the season ending race, Takale was forced to use only the first and third gear through the rugged terrain on the China-Mongolia border after the first 16-km and almost lost a minute to others in his class. They had to continue driving this way for another two stages before they could get the car to a service centre.
"After the third stage, service crew changed our gear box in 20 minutes but we have already lost 4 minutes to the leader Karamjit Singh, but with a car back in full gear, we drove very fast and made some time," said the Pune-based driver.
The Indian duo did make up some time on the second day, but a rare flat tyre cost them two valuable minutes and a place on the podium.
Malaysia's Kenneth Koh took the final place on the podium, beating Takale by mere seven points in the two-wheel drive class. Former world champion Karamjit Singh of Malaysia won the championship with 161 points followed by Akira Bamba of Japan (128)