Pune, July 22, 2017: The 9th edition of Maruti Suzuki’s annual southern motorsports rally, Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare concluded in a grand finale in Pune on Saturday with Team Maruti Suzuki’s Suresh Rana and Ashwin Naik winning the Ultimate Cars category and T Nataraj in Ultimate Bikes.
Bringing in more challenges and a new route, the 9th edition of the rally witnessed participants traversing through the undulating terrains of Chitradurga and Belgaum in South India before finally entering West for the first time through Kolhapur and hitting the finish line in Pune.
The six-day event which was flagged off from Bengaluru last Sunday, saw over 180 participants competing with each other to win the coveted title covering about 2000 kms.
Commenting on the success, Mr. Tarun Garg, Executive Vice President – Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. said, “Over the last 9 years, Dakshin Dare has grown tremendously and been able to gain a strong foothold in the motorsports community in South India. The increasing number of participation from across the country along with the longest rally route are testimonial to the claims. The large participation is indicative of our reach and influencing a larger audience through varied locations added to the rally each year.”
The top honours were grabbed by Team Maruti Suzuki’s Suresh Rana and Ashwin Naik in their Grand Vitara followed by Samrat Yadav & S N Nizami and Sandeep Sharma & Karan Arya in the second and third spot respectively.
Speaking on their win, Rana said, “This is our second consecutive win at Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare. With a new route this year, it was important to always keep your mind synced with the vehicle. The competition was tough with newer participants entering Dakshin Dare.”
In the Ultimate bikes category, T Nataraj kept the lead with Abdul Wahid and Sanjay Kumar coming second and third respectively.
In the Endurance category, Swift driven by Subir Roy & Nirav Mehta led the category followed by S-Cross driven by Karthick Maruthi & Sankar S Anand and Raghu Nandan & Prakash M by making it to the finishing line.
Final results:
Ultimate Cars:
- Suresh Rana & Ashwin Naik – 10:11:26
- Samrat Yadav & S N Nizami – 10:14:52
- Sandeep Sharma & Karan Arya – 10:24:17
Ultimate Bikes:
- T Nataraj – 06:12:38
- Abdul Wahid – 06:15:37
- Sanjay Kumar – 06:26:53
Endurance Cars (TSD):
- Subir Roy & Nirav Mehta – 00:12:20
- Karthick Maruthi & Sankar S Anand – 00:12:45
- Raghu Nandan & Prakash M – 00:12:49
