The week long competitive intensive 13th edition of Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm event has witnesses a lot of ups and downs this year. The event considered to be one of the toughest Motorsport rally has finally reached an end with the Leg 5 ending in. historical and beautiful city of Jaipur. This year’s edition of Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rally started from New Delhi and traversed towards Rajasthan on 23rd February 2015 with 130 participants. As the race came to an end only 69 participants could successfully complete the event. While competing against each other across categories, the participants had to cover a distance of about 2300 kms of western India. The fastest one to complete this event Abhishek Mishra from Delhi, was declared winner of the ultimate face off winner of this event.
On the last day of the event, the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rallyists were seen racing towards Jaipur in their vehicles from Bikaner while covering a distance of approximately about 330 Kms. The route was loaded with unique challenges and twists to the drivers and the unexpected desert rain indeed made the rally even more interesting for both, the rallyists as well as the spectators. Top honors of the rally went to Abhishek Mishra from Delhi and his navigator PVS Murthy driving a Grand Vitara in the XTreme category with a timing of 14:32:28 Hrs. Harpreet Bawa from Chandigarh and his navigator Ashwin Naik in their Vitara, grabbed the second position by clocking 15:05:09 Hrs followed by the team of Niju Padia of Bhavnagar and Shekhar V in their Pajero at 16:26:18 Hrs at the third position.
Speaking more on his amazing win Abhishek Mishra said,” I am super thrilled at this victory. All the weeks hard work has been paid off. I am eagerly looking forward to next year’s rally. It takes a lot of hard work, concentration and following the basic principles of safe driving to complete the rally”.
In the NDure category, motorists traveled the same distance as XTreme teams but in the Time Speed Distance format in the Leg 5 of the event. Jaipur greeted its own boy Vishnu Singh and his navigator Adithya Anthony driving Vitara, as the winners with a day end penalty of 0:25:42 Hrs. Somdeb Chanda and Neerav Mehta from Kolkata at the third position in Gypsy at the day end penalty of 0:33:28 Hrs. Sharavik Shah and Amit Kumar Saha in their Pajero bagged the third position with a day penalty of 0:34:18 Hrs. Whereas, in the Moto Quad category, CS Santosh displayed exemplary driving skills and passion while grabbed the first prize by clocking 1:29:59 Hrs . Jes David of Jaipur was no less than a winner, with a timing of about 1:44:49 Hrs, he grabbed the second position. Mohit Verma continued to push himself to finish third with a total time of about 2:04:58 Hrs.
Speaking more on the occasion, Mr. Manohar Bhatt, Vice President, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki said, “The participants did really well and increased the bar for the next rally. It indeed was a test of man and machine, which only few brave hearts were able to finish and win. It’s great to see the passion, for motorsport, which lies in their heart. Team Maruti Suzuki will always provide its motorists the best of the opportunities and vehicles to face such extreme sports. We hope to see all the daredevils to raise the bar higher. We will be back next year with another exciting and adrenaline pumping edition of the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rally.”
