Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya 2016; See Final Results

The 18th edition of the Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya was called off following an incident in which veteran rallyist Paul Subhamoy passed away. The tragedy, which took place in the third leg of the rally, has moved the entire rallying fraternity across the country. A native of Kolkata, Paul had been participating in many rallies across the globe, including the Raid. He was competing in the extreme category with his KTM EXC500 supercross machine.

The accident took place between the Losar-Gramphoo stretch, which is around 78 kilometres long. Paul is reported to have lost control of his bike near Chatru and fell on the rocky terrain. He sustained severe head injuries and is said to have died on the spot. However, he was airlifted from the spot and was taken to a hospital in Manali as soon as the accident was reported to the marshals.

The Extreme category of the rally was terminated following the fatal accident, while the Adventure category was carried until the end.

The final winners of the extreme category, according to the provisional results after day three, are as follows:

First: Suresh Rana/Ashwin Naik

Second: Lhakpa Tsering/Kumar Ramesh

Third: Sandeep Sharma/Karan Arya

With these results, Suresh Rana has won the Raid De Himalaya for the record tenth time, and was driving a rally spec Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara. Whereas, Lhakpa Tsering, who won the same rally last year, was driving a Polaris RZR XP(R) 4 1000. On the other hand, Sandeep Sharma was piloting a rally-spec Maruti Suzuki Gypsy along with his co-driver Karan Arya.

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In the Extreme motorcycle category, both the TVS factory riders took the front spots astride the TVS RTR450 supercross motorbikes. Abdul Wahid Tanveer took victory in the Extreme category, followed by teammate R Natraj on the second position. The third position was taken by Umang Saxena, who was riding a rally-modified KTM Duke 390.

In the adventure category, the tallest step of the podium was taken up by Jagmeet Gill along with his co-driver Chandan Sen in a Maruti Gypsy. The second and the third place was grabbed by Ajgar Ali and Sunder Singh respectively, both driving a Vitara Brezza. Taking extra precaution after the sad incident, Raid De Himalaya's adventure category's speed was restricted to 45kmph.