Defending Champion Baldev Chager says he sees great potential with the VW Polo R5 car after testing the machine he will drive for the second time at Sunday’s KCB Machakos Rally. Baldy first drove the car in the Voi Rally and finished second overall behind winner Karan Patel.
The “Flying Singh”, who has previously sat on Group N and R4 Mitsubishi EvolutionX cars, drove the VW Polo R5 on a gravel performance test and sounded quite enthusiastic about it.
“We had a bit of a test last weekend, did a few kilometers and I feel I am getting a bit settled with the car compared to how we were in Voi when we first drove it,” said Chager, who will be partnering up with his longstanding Championship winning co-driver Ravi Soni.
“So let’s see how the route is in Machakos and we will take it from there. After the recce on Saturday, we will see how best we will perfect our pace-notes, so we will take it as it comes.”
The multiple Kenya and Safari champion termed his “fast and furious” test activity “an interesting challenge”, adding there was still amazing potential with the car previously driven by Kabras Sugar Racing ace and teammate – Onkar Rai.
It is hardly a month since he piloted the car but Chager is already savoring the great racing experience in the contraption Onkar powered to WRC3 victory during the Safari on 27th June.
“Even the EVO-X, as many years as we have driven it, there is always a little bit more we can always find in it. So, with the Polo project being a fresh start, it’s going to be some time before we are closer to 90 percent of the car’s potential. Right now, we are just driving it to 50 or 60 percent of it’s potential.”
The Polo is a custom-made rally car as much as it looks like a normal car, but in itself, everything is really customized, as Chager would put it.
The R4 Evolution X which he has previously driven is a production car with lots of standard suspension parts whereby the travel and gear ratios and the engine are all very production- based.
“So getting used to the Polo, how it takes the rough, how it accelerates and how it brakes; the characteristics of this car are completely different. It’s just a matter of getting used to it, but then again it’s much easier to drive- to be honest and also very aggressive so there is a technique that we are still trying to perfect.”
Talking of the weekend’s Kenya Motor Sports Club round, Chager quipped “we are returning to Lisa Farm where we have had good and bad rallies too”.
“We have won and had an engine blow out in one of the rallies there. We also had one which was really wet and we’re first on the road.”
Chager’s title defense this season has entailed some ups and downs but the leading Sikh driver in the country is determined to soldier on.
“First rally in Nakuru we won. The second one, which was the ARC Equator Rally, we didn’t do too well. We actually broke down on Day One but under the “Super Rally” rule we restarted on the last day and salvaged some KNRC points in the process.
“Third KNRC was the WRC Safari in which again we lost a whole day and finished 18th. The last rally in Voi we lost a little bit of time trying to get used to the Polo and also got stuck on a sisal stump, but still came second. Four events to go, so let’s see how it goes for us.”
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