Mangaluru: Rising from the sand dunes, Mangalurean motor racer Ashwin Naik coupled with another ace racer Suresh Rana has emerged as winners at the 15th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm concluded on Sunday at Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
Driving in their Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, the duo clocked a time of 11:50:44, aggressively defeating the competitors in the ‘XTreme’ category.
The last leg of the rally which was the night leg and driving 150 kilometers on the sand in chilling conditions was indeed a great experience and a challenge all rolled into one. On the last day, the participants covered a total distance of around 500km travelling from Jaisalmer to Jodhpur, winning duo told.
Speaking on his 5th Desert Storm win, Suresh Rana said, “We have participated in multiple format rallies and previous editions of Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, and I can confidently say the level of competencies has increased tremendously. Seems like Motorsports has finally found great acceptance from audience across the country which is a clear outcome of efforts put in by Maruti Suzuki to encourage participation through motorsport activities.
In the NDurance category, Nikunj Toshniwal and co-driver Suvrajit Dutta won the title, while Karthick Maruthi and S. Sankar Anand took home the trophy in the XPlore Cars category driving the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza.
Elaborating on yet another successful edition, Vinay Pant, Assistant Vice President, Marketing, Maruti Suzuki said, “We are humbled each time we look at the increasing participation numbers witnessed with each edition. It is further complemented by the sportsmanship spirit observed among participants who only let Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm grow as a brand in itself. Our efforts of taking motorsports to the unexplored regions of the country seems to be paying back.”
The 2017 Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm involved close to 2000 kms of racing in the testing conditions around the Thar Desert. Spread across 6 days, the rally was flagged off from Noida and crossed Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer concluding in Jodhpur.
Maruti Suzuki & Motorsports: Maruti Suzuki has been actively promoting safe motorsports in the country for over 15 years now. To popularize action sport, the Maruti Suzuki motorsport calendar is packed with exciting motoring events. Be it for a motorsport enthusiast, an amateur or a professional, there are events that offer the thrill and joy of motorsport to one and all. The annual calendar of events includes cross country rallies including Maruti Suzuki Raid-De-Himalaya, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm and Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare. Recently Maruti Suzuki has added the National Super League TSD Rally Championship and Maruti Suzuki Autocross championship to its motorsport calendar making it even more exciting. These events provide rallying thrills as well as promote safe driving habits. To ensure safety of the participants the rally is conducted professionally in supervision of top class marshals.
