Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm: Rana, Santosh retire; Mishra, Mare enjoy big leads after Leg 3
Jaisalmer, March 23: The Leg 3 of the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm turned out to be a graveyard of machinery as Abhishek Mishra and co-driver Venu Ramesh Kumar took a firm grip in the four-wheeler category after defending champion Suresh Rana (co-driver PV Srinivas Murthy) packed up while Aaron Mare increased his lead in the two-wheeler section after favourite CS Santosh crashed out.
Though Santosh (Hero Motorsport) completed the stage in second position, he subsequently retired with a neck injury and did not take the start for Leg 4 on Thursday.
In a dramatic turn of events, the 200-Kms long Special Stage witnessed a trail of havoc with retirements galore. Rana, the standard-bearer of Maruti Suzuki Motorsport team, retired with a blown engine. His retirement pushed local challenger Raj Singh (co-driver Sagar Mallappa) into second place, some 22 minutes behind Abhishek Mishra. Maruti Suzuki Motor Sport’s Dharmpal Jangra (Harikrishnan) were running third.
Thus, only 21 cars were in the hunt in the rally at the start of Leg 4 which is probably the toughest section as the competitors have to navigate through four Stages that commenced at 6 am today and the run will conclude only in the early hours of Friday!
Even as law of averages caught up with Rana, a multiple cross-country rally winner, including the Raid de Himalaya and Dakshin Dare, the two-wheeler section continued to reel with a clutch of retirements.
Santosh of Hero Motorsport, who enjoyed a healthy lead at the end of Leg 2, fell heavily at the 44th km mark on Wednesday, but completed the 200Kms long Stage while nursing a neck injury. However, on Thursday morning, he opted not to take the start and retired in view of the injury.
Santosh’s shock retirement meant Aaron Mare of Angata Racing taking a sizeable lead of over 13 minutes over TVS Racing’s Spanish rider Santolino Lorenzo. In third place was Mare’s team-mate Sanjay Kumar, a further seven minutes adrift.
The scheduled night stage on Thursday for two-wheelers has since been cancelled in view of the difficulties experienced by the riders in reading the road book in the dark, and thus losing their way in the desert.
Provisional classification (Xtreme, After Leg 3):
4 Wheelers (Overall): 1. Abhishek Mishra / Venu Ramesh Kumar (T1 class) (06hrs, 55mins, 38secs); 2. Raj Singh Rathore / Sagar Mallappa (T2) (07:21:55); 3. Dharmpal Jangra / Harikrishnan (Maruti Suzuki Motorsport, T1) (07:31:58); 4. Niju Padia / Nirav Mehta (Desert Raiders, T2) (07:32:34); 5. Sandeep Sharma / Karan Arya (Maruti Suzuki Motorsport, T1) (07:38:59); 6. Vinam Jain / Karan Malik (Wanderers Adventure, T2) (07:45:10).
Moto (2W): 1. Aaron Mare (Angata Racing, Group A) (05:29:39); 2. CS Santosh (Hero Motorsport, Gr A) (05:36:43)*; 3. Santolino Lorenzo (TVS Racing, Gr A) (05:42:49); 4. Sanjay Kumar (Angata Racing, Gr A) (05:49:05); 5. Tanveer Abdul Waheed (TVS Racing, Gr A) (06:00:40); 6. Ashish Raorane (Gr A) (06:55:47). *Santosh subsequently retired and did not take start for Leg 4 on Thursday.
Group B (250-500cc): 1. Virendra Waghela (08:56:11); 2. Rajeev Wadhwa (13:36:33). Group C (165-250cc): 1. Yuva Kumar (08:30:16). Above 260cc: 1. Mohan Lal Sharma (08:31:06). Gr C (165-210cc): 1. Deepak Naidu (11:02:03). Gr C (210-260cc): 1. Vishal Das (12:13:27). Quad (Group D): 1. Anand Sharma (12:56:23).
