Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm: Abhishek Mishra, Aaron Mare emerge champions by big margins

David Bodapati March 23, 2018

729 1 minute read

South African rider Aaron Mare of Ang'ata Racing team, winner of the MOTO title in the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm.

*South African rider Aaron Mare of Ang’ata Racing team, winner of the MOTO title in the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm which concluded in Jaisalmer on Friday.*

Jaisalmer, March 23: It was virtually a weekend cruise for Abhishek Mishra and South African Aaron Mare who expectedly won the titles in the Xtreme (4-wheelers) and MOTO (2-wheelers) categories, respectively, as the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm concluded here on Friday evening.

Mishra and co-driver Venu Rameshkumar, enjoying a comfortable overnight lead, did not push their Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara in completing the rally’s final Stage of 25 Kms today to pocket the title.

Finishing second behind Mishra was local challenger Raj Singh Rathore (co-driver Sagar Mallappa) while Niju Padia (Nirav Mehta) of Desert Raiders completed the podium in the Overall classification.

Rathore, along with Padia and Vinam Jain (Karan Malik) of Wanderers Adventure team took the top three spots in the T2 (1350cc) class.

Earlier, Mare of Ang’ata Racing, nursed his ailing KTM 450 which was suffering an internal oil leak, to the finish line without any mishap to win the crown from TVS Racing’s Spanish rider Santolino Lorenzo. Mare’s team-mate Sanjay Kumar came in third to underline Ang’ata Racing’s domination.

Incidentally, the week-long event which covered a total distance of 2,500 Kms with 900 Kms of competitive section, claimed some big names, including four-wheeler defending champion Suresh Rana of Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsport and Nataraj Rajanna of TVS Racing, last year’s MOTO winner besides Hero Motorsport’s CS Santosh who was the hot favourite for the Moto title.

Final results:

Xtreme (Overall): 1. Abhishek Mishra / Venu Rameshkumar (T1) (11hrs, 15mins, 54secs); 2. Raj Singh Rathore / Sagar Mallappa (T2) (11:50:36); 3. Niju Padia / Nirav Mehta (Desert Raiders, T2) (12:35:40); 4. Vinam Jain / Karan Malik (Wanderers Adventure, T2) (12:41:58); 5. Harpreet Bawa / Vikram Thakur (Harjee Motorsport, T1) (12:52:55); 6. Capt AVS Gill / Diwakar Kalia (T2) (13:23:50); 7. Narayan Balan / Chirag Thakur (Desert Raiders, T1) (14:30:58).

MOTO (Overall): 1. Aaron Mare (Ang’ata Racing, Group A) (08:01:20); 2. Santolino Lorenzo (TVS Racing, Gr A) (08:06:39); 3. Sanjay Kumar (Ang’ata Racing, Gr A) (08:39:09). Group B (250-500cc): 1. Vijendra Waghela (14:06:37); 2. Rajeev Wadhwa (20:16:46)

Group C (Above 260cc): 1. Mohan Lal Sharma (12:47:15). Group C (165-210cc): 1. Yuva Kumar (13:17:34); 2. Deepak Naidu (17:23:09); 3. Ashok Kumar (18:28:13). Group C (210-260cc): 1. Vishal Das (18:33:07).