Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm: Mishra, Rana locked in close battle; Santosh consolidates lead after Leg 2

David Bodapati March 21, 2018

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Jaisalmer, March 21: Abhishek Mishra and co-driver Venu Ramesh Kumar moved to the front among four-wheelers while CS Santosh extended his domination in the two-wheeler category at the end of Leg 2 on Tuesday night in the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, India’s premier cross-country rally.

Mishra, who trailed defending champion and Maruti Suzuki Motorsport’s Suresh Rana (co-driver PV Srinivas Murthy) by 33 seconds at the end of Leg 1 in Bikaner on Monday night, not only made up the deficit but also jumped to a 38-second lead to set up a titanic clash for honours.

In contrast, Santosh of the Dakar fame, stamped his authority and class in the two-wheeler section by extending his overnight lead by over two minutes, going into the third day of the event in Rajasthan’s Thar desert.

Trailing Santosh were two Angata Racing team pair of Aaron mare and Sanjay Kumar. The duo finished Leg 2 ahead of TVS Racing mates Santolino Lorenzo and Tanveer Abdul Waheed while Ashish Raorane completed the top six.

It is still early days in the Desert Storm as the toughest part of the cross-country race is yet to come with a couple of long Stages, including a night run, scheduled as the competitors headed into Jaisalmer where the remainder of the rally will be run before it concludes later this week.

Provisional classification (Xtreme, After Leg 2):

4 Wheelers (Overall): 1. Abhishek Mishra / Venu Ramesh Kumar (T1 class) (03hrs, 44mins, 07secs); 2. Suresh Rana / PV Srinivas Murthy (Maruti Suzuki Motorsport, T1) (03:44:45); 3. Raj Singh Rathore / Sagar Mallappa (T2) (03:53:11); 4. Gaurav Chirpal / Srikanth Gowda (T1) (04:01:05); 5. Samrat Yadav / Syed Najeeb Nizami (Maruti Suzuki Motorsport, T1) (04:09:10); 6. Sandeep Sharma / Karan Arya (Maruti Suzuki Motorsport, T1) (04:10:05).

4 Wheelers (T2): 1. Rathore / Mallappa (03:53:11); 2. Himanshu Arora / Kunal Kashyap (Harjee Motorsport) (04:13:27); 3. Niju Padia / Nirav Mehta (Desert Raiders) (04:15:41).

Moto (2W): 1. CS Santosh (Group A) (03:03:06); 2. Aaron Mare (Angata Racing, Gr A) (03:05:20); 3. Sanjay Kumar (Angata Racing, Gr A) (03:21:27); 4. Santolino Lorenzo (TVS Racing, Gr A) (03:27:01); 5. Tanveer Abdul Waheed (TVS Racing, Gr A) (03:27:28); 6. Ashish Raorane (Gr A) (03:56:10).

Group B (Up to 250cc): 1. Rajendra RE (TVS Racing) (04:10:31); 2. Imran Pasha (TVS Racing) (04:32:42); 3. Santosh Vishnoi (05:47:19). Gr B (250-500cc): 1. Virendra Waghela (04:53:55); 2. Neeraj Samrath N (05:56:17); 3. Rajeev Wadhwa (07:03:38).

Group C (165-250cc): 1. Yuva Kumar (04:42:08). Above 260cc: 1. Mohan Lal Sharma (05:01:51). Gr C (130-165cc): 1. Rajesh Jangid (05:58:34). Gr C (165-210cc): 1. Deepak Naidu (06:17:38). Quad (Group D): 1. Anand Sharma (06:24:51).