Nagaland driver wins in national car rally

Itanagar, December 27 (MExN): Lanusanen Pongener of Team Anumolu, powered by MRF, created history by winning a round in the Champions Yacht Club MRF Indian National Rally Championship to become the first Naga to earn the honours in the national championship.

Pongener partnered with navigator Lokaranjan to win the INRC4 class in the first round which concluded near Chimpu and Hollangi.

Driving a Honda City, Lanusanen represents his home club Amam in Nagaland events and is also associated with the Nagaland Adventure and Motor Sports Club.

Lanu, as he is popularly known in South India, where he took part in most of the rallies for the last three years, Lanu finished fourth to lead the championship in INRC4 in the current standings.

He successfully completed the two night stages of Round 1 on the highway, and was second in the standings at the end of Day 1. 

The first two rounds were held back-to-back with a day’s rest. 

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” he quipped sporting a smile and pointing to the slogan on the walls of the Chimpu Parade camp which hosted the cars as Service Park. 

“Only now I got a sponsor through the hard work of promoter Vamsi Merla. He persuaded a Telugu NRI from USA, and my Tyres from MRF and all the expenses for transporting the car and service of the car. So from AP to AP (Andhra to Arunachal), for a driver from Nagaland and co-driver from Bengaluru by a sponsor from USA, mine is a unique winning story of integrating the seven sisters into the mainland through sport,” said Lanu.

“The people of Nagaland and all the North East have many talents and champions but we are not included in the mainstream. Time has come to build bridges and change it by showcasing huge talents and skills,” he added. 

Nagaland Adventure and Motor Sports Association president Ruguo Desmo Kesiezie said “Lanu is the first from our state to take part in the National Rally events. Though we have local rallies, they are not part of the Nationals. We are proud of his achievement and hope to produce many more drivers from the state. We also have some riders and drivers in the National Racing in Chennai but Lanu is the first rally driver to win a round in the nationals in INRC4 class.’’