2017 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Day 4: Untested Waters

The popular Dakshin Dare Rally has set foot in the historic city of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, for the first time in its history. And residents of the city were in for a bit of a surprise as the rally circus rolled, because Kolhapur also played host to a spectator special stage that was held within city limits! Top position across categories did not change though, as the respective class leaders ensured there were no slip-ups, despite the heavy downpour that welcomed them into the state of Maharashtra.

Team Maruti Suzuki’s Suresh Rana continued his run to stay at the top of the time sheets by finishing ending the leg in 7 hours, 21 minutes and 13 seconds. Samrat Yadav continued to give Rana a tough fight and ended the day a mere 38 seconds behind him. Sandeep Sharma in his Maruti Gypsy was running third comfortably at the end of day 4, though there is a gap of over 16 minutes between him and Samrat.

Ultimate Bikes didn’t see any change in the top three either, with T Nataraj still sitting pretty at the top. The fourth leg saw him further widen the gap between him and Abdul Wahid who ended the day in second. Sanjay Kumar trails Abdul currently in third place.

Talking about maintaining the lead in the unpredictable weather, T Nataraj said, “The cloudy weather turned into a heavy downpour in no time. It is more challenging for two-wheelers particularly since maintaining the balance is a task in slushes and clogged water. The test tracks were equally challenging as the entire stretch was completely slushy but what kept us going was the enthusiasm of the local spectators who were thrilled to experience motorsports in their city premise. One leg away, and the excitement knows no bound.”

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As the 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare nears its business end, things are further expected to heat up with only a few seconds separating the top two in the Ultimate Cars class. The Ultimate Bikes class is also expected to be a close contest with the rally having travelled over 2000km to Pune since the start, and has been extremely taxing on the motorcycles and the riders. Stay tuned to ZigWheels as we bring you the latest updates from the final leg of the rally.

Catch the full story
- 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Flagged Off 
- 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Day 1: Suresh Rana Trails
- 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Day 2: Samrat And Nataraj Lead Respective Classes
- 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Day 3: Not Over Until It’s Over