The 2.5km stretch of the first leg around the Kochi Jawaharlal Nehru International Satdium attracted a large crowd of spectators as it did last year. It is only the first leg of the total 132.5-km rallying distance. At the end of the first day, JK Tyres' rallyists Hari Singh leads the table in group A followed by his team mate Upkar Dicky Gill.

Hari Singh's efforts saw him clock 2.12 while Upkar Dicky Gill finished the distance in 2.16. The MRF team members -- N Leelakrishnan, Arjun Balu and Narendra Kumar finishing in 2.17 each, shared the third place in group A.

In group N, Nikhil Taneja had a close shave when he beat off competition by a whisker and his rivals, four of them coming four seconds behind, were placed in the second place. He ledover Manik, Sagar Muthappa (JK Tyres) and Vijayant Choudhury and Karandip Singh who clocked 2.21. Big names like Karamjit Singh from Malaysia, and Manik Raikhy (group N), last year's winner, fell behind.

Karamjit Singh, a former Asia-Pacific champion, saw his engine stop for a while as he pulled the handbrakes at a hairpin bend at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Apparently, he lost a few precious seconds before the engine came on again.

In the two-wheeler class, Nipender Jassy riding a Suzuki Shaolin clocked 2.11 to be in the first place while RH Vikram of MRF, slipping up at the hairpin bend twice clocked 2.28, 17 seconds behind Jassy. Vikram who started first on hi YamahaRX135 in place of the injured Rohitazz Kumar too slipped in both the rounds. K Prasad clocked 2.13 and Akashithal clocked 2.15.

Rohitazz, a member of the MRF team who was injured while returning after a recce on Thursday, has been operated upon at the Medical Trust Hospital here. His foot injury will put him out of action for at least amonth and he will not participate in the next month's Cotton City Rally in Coimbatore.