Bikaner: It’s almost official. With an impressive lead of 24.32 minutes over his closest competitor at the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, Suresh Rana of Team Maruti is the reigning cross-country marathon motorsport champion of the country.
The rally will end on February 23, after the last competitive leg of the event in the wild outback of Bikaner and Jaipur in the wee hours of Saturday. On Day Five of the rally today, Rana drove his Grand Vitara over dunes and sand country with undisguised aggression, topping his 15.14 minute lead in the morning with an additional nine minutes over Sunny Sidhu of Chandigarh.
Rana is heading Rally Xtreme, which is all about speed. With eight titles of the formidable Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya and two titles of India’s ‘Mini Dakar’ – the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, the Manali man is set to romp home to victory again. Sunny Sidhu, who was ranking second at the end of Day Five, has a lead of 15.37 minutes over Lohit Urs of Mysore.
In the Ndure category, which follows the Xtreme route in the Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) format, the fight for the top positions is between Parth Beniwal, K. Prasad of Team Maruti and Somdev Chanda of Team Maruti. Team Maruti has two of the top three positions in the Xplore category too. Sanjay Takale of Team Maruti, driving a Maruti Suzuki SX4, has a lead of 24 seconds over Satish Gopalkrishnan of Bangalore. Gopalkrishnan has a lead of 1.52 minutes over Rajesh Chalana, also of Team Maruti.
Raj Singh Rathore of Team Polaris is clocking the fastest speed overall in the desert marathon, driving his Polaris RZR 800. Rathore is heading the Xtreme Quad category, followed by Brandon Glissmeyer, who is also driving a Polaris RZR 800. Top in Xtreme Moto is Vijay Parmar of Shimla. Parmar is ahead of Mohit Verma of Chandigarh by three minutes. German biker Stephan Rausch, who ranked low on the first two days of the rally, has steadily made his way up, and is behind Mohit Verma by two minutes.
The 11th edition of this tough, challenging motorsport event had started on February 18, with 138 teams in the fray. These included 52 teams in Xtreme, 34 in Endure, 29 in Xplore, 29 in Moto and three in Quad. A total of 263 rallyists from all over the country and also abroad fighting for top honours in one of the most prestigious motorsport events of the country.
With only the final competitive stage left, only about 25 per cent participants are running in each category. The harsh, unforgiving desert terrain has taken a toll over man and machine, forcing experienced rallyists to bow out of competition.
Mr Mayank Pareek, the Managing Executive Officer of Maruti Suzuki, said that from a two-day rally over a decade ago, the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm has evolved into a motorsport event of massive proportions. “Our endeavour is to give our buyers diverse experiences, and fulfill their need for adventure in a safe, regulated environment. Maruti Suzuki Motorsport is one of the ways we connect with the youth, and the youthful spirit of all those who love driving,” highlighted Pareek.
The rally began from Delhi on February 18, and will traverse about 2,200 kilometers before ending at Jaipur tomorrow. From a two-day rally over a decade ago, the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm has evolved into a motorsport event of massive proportions that now traverses the Thar Desert and the entire span of the dune country. “The challenging, tough terrain of motorsport is excellent testing ground on which the Maruti Suzuki vehicles prove their mettle before we introduce them in the value-driven Indian automobile market,” said Pareek.