The 19th edition of the Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya has concluded in Leh. The rally ensured that only the toughest of the tough survived the extreme temperatures, altitude and rugged terrains with less than 50% of the overall competitors making it to the finish line. The rally saw 106 motorsport rallyists participating across Xtreme Cars, Xtreme Bikes and Adventure categories, overcoming inhospitable temperatures and terrains covering a distance of Manali, Kaza, Pang, Kargil and Leh covering a distance of 1850 kms.
Suresh Rana and PVS Murthy from Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsport drove home the coveted title in their Grand Vitara with a lead of over 09:22:17 hrs in the Xtreme cars category. Coming a close second were Sanjay Razdan and Karan Aukta in their Maruti Gypsy covering the distance in 10:13:14 hrs; followed by Sanjay Agarwal and Smitha N in their Grand Vitara covering the distance in 10:35:33 hrs; and Dharam Pal Jangra and Abhishek Sultan in their Vitara Brezza covering the distance in 10:45:41 hrs.
Making their debut in the Xtreme category, Vitara Brezza and S-Cross represented Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsport; proving their mettle by finishing 1st and 2nd respectively in the Car category.
Abdul Wahid in his TVS RTR 450 FX won the Xtreme Bikes category covering the distance in 07:44:03 ; followed by R. Natraj in TVS RTR 450 covering the distance in 07:47:03 and R E Rajendra in TVS RTR 200FX covering the distance in 08:57:29.
In the Adventure Car category, Rajesh Chalana and Satish Gopalkrishnan took the lead driving Maruti Swift. Rakesh Choudhary & Raja Hisham in Maruti SX4 and Shubham Middha and Anshul Asati in Maruti SX4 stood at second and third position respectively. Whereas, in the Adventure SUV category, Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta stood first driving Maruti Gypsy. Shashwat Gupta & Chirag Thakur in Isuzu V Cross and Shailendra Singh and Dinky Varghese in Skoda Yeti stood at second and third position respectively.
