2018 Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm Sees Two Days Of Thrilling Action

The 16th edition of Maruti's Desert Storm was flagged off on March 17, 2018 in Noida. The desert rally championship will see competitors fight it out in four different categories: two-wheelers and quad-bikes in the Moto category, and four-wheelers in the Xplore, Ndure and Xtreme categories. More than 70 per cent of this 2500km long route is all new, and a new roadbook navigation system has been added for the first time, making it challenging even for the veterans.

The Desert Storm sees record number of participants this year, with the organisers claiming over 250 registrations across categories. Prominent names include Aishwarya Pissay, riding for the TVS Racing team, CS Santosh, riding the Hero MotoSports Team Rally RR450 - making its Indian competitive debut and five-time winner Suresh Rana with co-driver PVS Murthy driving the Maruti Motorsport Grand Vitara.

The actual rally began in the dunes around Bikaner. While everyone had to take into account loose sand and thorny bushes on the 217km-long route on the first day, the rally began only at 2:30PM meaning they did not have to face the harsh summer noon sun. On the flipside, the 4-wheelers drove through the evening and into the night, with many getting caught out by the changing terrain.

At the end of day one, the Moto category was led by Dakar-rally participant CS Santosh on his Hero MotoSports Dakar bike, the Xplore category by Nipun Agarwal and Kabir Mansharamani, the Ndure category by Lt. Col. Sukhjeet Singh Dhaliwal and Lenin J and the Xtreme category by Maruti Motorsports’ Suresh Rana and PVS Murthy in their Grand Vitara.

Day 2 of the Desert Storm 2018 began from Bikaner and traversed over varied desert terrain for about 200km to Bikampur. Unlike the first day though, there was no respite from the scorching sun on the second day, with the competitors being flagged off in the morning. Narrow trails, loose sand and dense desert vegetation made it even more challenging on the second day.

Suresh Rana lost his lead to Abhishek Mishra, but only by about 40 seconds and is sure to fight to be back in the lead today.

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

The results at the end of day two were as follows:

Moto
1. CS Santosh (#1) 03:03:06
2. Aaron Mare (#3) 03:05:20
3. Sanjay Kumar (#6) 03:21:27

Xtreme
1. Abhishek Mishra, V Venu Rameshkumar (#103) 03:44:07
2. Suresh Rana, P.V Srinivas Murthy (#101) 03:44:45
3. Raj Singh Rathore, Sagar Mallappa (#102) 03:53:11