Day 2:
The second day of Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare 2014 came to an action-packed end. Starting from Davangere amidst light shimmers of rain, the rally set off for Chitradurga- which hosted the day’s two stages in the ultimate car and one in the ultimate bike categories.
Traversing a total of 475 kms during the day in the Extreme Car category, Team Maruti’s Sandeep Sharma and Varun Davessar, driving a Maruti Gypsy, clocked 1:02:27 to snatch the lead at the end of second leg of the rally, from the defending champion and leader from leg 1,AmanpreetAhluwalia who unfortunately slipped to the 8th position after receiving a stop and go penalty. Team Maruti drivers Sanjay Agarwal and Venu, also driving a Maruti Gypsy, stood second with a time of 1:03:02. Close at their heels were Karan AM and Shahid Salman in a Maruti Suzuki Baleno, placed third with a time of 1:03:15. With their signature grit, nine time Raid de Himalaya champion Suresh Rana and Parminder Thakur tore across the track, in their Maruti Gypsy, to better their performance from day one and finished with a time of 1:03:23, securing the fourth rank. The rally heated up as it advanced to the second stage as the final time difference between the top 4 contenders came out to be less than a minute.
In the Extreme Bike category, defending champion of Dakshin Dare 2013 and yesterday’s leader, Natraj maintained his lead on day 2 of Dakshin Dare 2014 with a time of 45:36. Same as day one, he was followed by Mohit Verma (47:17) and Promod Joshua (48:44) who stood second and third respectively.
The second day’s route of the Extreme category was a mix of tarmac and dirt which allowed the cars to display zooming-high speeds in the relatively flat terrain. Stretching over a distance of 44kms the leg featured potholes, patches of slush and sharp corners which created a challenge for the drivers and put their driving skills to the pedal. The day saw intense action with competitors really giving their best.
The Honda city running on third place yesterday, i.e., Druva and Roopesh crashed out as it went off the trail in the first stage of day 2.
In the extreme category, traveled via Chitradurga and headed towards Hospet, which will host the rally for the coming two days.
The Endurance category vehicles who traversed 331 kms from Davangere to Hospet on day 1 saw Kartik Maruti and Sankar Anand of Team Maruti lead the pack in an Ertiga with a total penalty of 24 seconds. Behind him were Sagar and Chandrashekhar with a penalty of 31 seconds. Third were Ganesh Murty and T Nagarajan of Team Maruti with a penalty of 38 seconds.
Stay glued to Motoroids for more action from the event.