Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) flagged off the second round of the National Super League TSD Rally Championship (MSNSTSDRC) 2016. Also known as the Deccan Rally, the 4-day rally started from Pune, Maharashtra. The honours were done by Vineet Jain, Regional Manager (West), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
This year the Deccan Rally will have 35 teams, including winners – Karthick Maruthi and Sankar Anand, of the first leg of MSNSTSDRC, of Uttarakhand Rally, compete for the title. Other key participants like Jagmeet Gill, Sachin Singh and SK Ajgar Ali will race in the event as well. The rally will also witness a participation of 5 all women teams and a total of 11 women participants.
Following the ceremonial flag off and scrutiny check, the participants will take off on Saturday, 14th May for the first leg from Pune to Guhagar, Ratnagiri. Next day, the rally will be in its second leg and will cross through Ratnagiri towards Goa. The rally will cover a distance of over 700 km in 2 days. The prize distribution ceremony to felicitate winners of the rally will take place on Monday, 16th May, in Goa.
The event is open only for the 4 wheeler category, divided into Championship Contenders considered as expert level and Non-Championship contenders which are further split into four groups: Non-Championship – Expert, Non-Championship – Amateur, Denizen – Expert, and Denizen – Amateur. It will follow the Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) format, a highly safe format of rallying, which tests the skills of both the driver and navigator to the maximum. This is a moderate level of motorsport that permits participants to tread cautiously in denser pockets, and adhere to specified speed limits at all times.
On the occasion, R S Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. said that with MSNSTSDRC, the company wants to take motorsports to masses, unlike the more popular rallying formats from the Maruti Suzuki stable like Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, and Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare, this one pans through the north, south, east, west and central parts of the country, bring its own set of trials and experiments with it. This is a big piece of their motorsport efforts and encouragement of rally enthusiasts.