After four days and 2000km, the 2019 edition of the rally
culminated in Jaisalmer
For the fourth time, Aabhishek Mishra from Jaipur won the
Desert Storm rally in the Xtreme category (cross-country rally for cars) and he
is the third person to defend his title successfully along with six-time winner
Sunny Sidhu and Suresh Rana in this class. Driving a Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara
with co-driver Srikanth Gowda, he conquered the scorching heat, the desert and
his opponents with a cumulative time of 9 hours 21 minutes and 45 seconds for a commendable victory.
This is the first time that Chandigarh based Samrat Yadav
and co-driver Kunal Kashyap entered the rally with the Toyota Fortuner. They drove
consistently throughout the rally clinch the second spot in the rally with
cumulative timings of 9 hours 41 minutes 34 seconds. In third place were Lakhpa
Tsering and co-driver V Venu Rameshkumar in their Polaris RZR 1000, who,
despite being slow in the earlier stages, gained time quickly and finished the
rally with cumulative timings of 9 hours 47 minutes 30 seconds. In the fourth and
fifth place were Capt AVS Gill (co-driver Diwakar Kalia) and Sanjay Razdan
(co-driver Karan Aukta) with cumulative timings of 10 hours 9 minutes 59
seconds and 10 hours 23 minutes 7 seconds respectively.
"We were against some top teams and the win feels special" - Aabhishek Mishra
Aabhishek Mishra from team Sparky's Garage was elated after winning the Xtreme category against what he touts as
one of the best drivers’ line-up ever at Desert Storm. He said, “This win feels
incredibly special to me and my co-driver due to the fact that we were
competing against some of the top teams and best rally racers in the country
and we came out victorious despite being budget privateers. We always had a
strategy in mind which was to stay consistent in the initial few days and
preserve the vehicle for the 200 km stage. Until the day of 200km stage, we had
started to realize that Team Mahindra Adventure was falling apart and our
vehicle was still pretty much in good shape. From there onwards, we upped our
game and went straight for the kill. I am thankful to my co-driver Srikanth and
the entire squad at Sparky’s Garage for making this win a reality.”
In the Moto Category, Sherco TVS rider Adrien Metge won the
country’s longest motorbike rally with a cumulative time of 6 hours 13 minutes
and 25 seconds. CS Santosh came second with a cumulative time of 6 hours 19
minutes and 0 seconds. He lost time in the second day and though he clocked the
fastest time in the 190km marathon stage yesterday, Santosh was not able to
catch the Frenchman. TVS Racing’s Abdul Wahid
Tanveer who clocked a cumulative timing of 6 hours 35 minutes 28 seconds, rounded
off the podium in the Moto category.
Ankur Chauhan (and co-driver Prakash M) was the other big
winner, with best rankings in all five legs in the Endure Category (Regularity
rally or Time-Speed-Distance rally). In second and third place were Capt. Abhilasha Singh
(co-driver Aashish Agarwal) and Team Army Adventure Wing’s Aman Katoch
(co-driver Siddhartha Nandal). The Ndure category results are evaluated on the
basis of average rank after all five legs.
After
four days of tough racing, the competitors were felicitated in a glittering
ceremony at the Marriot Resorts and Spa in Jaisalmer. Among the key awards won, the Team Trophy
(Xtreme Category) went to Team Army Adventure Wing, Team Trophy (Moto) to TVS
Racing, Team Trophy (Ndure) to Team Army Adventure Wing. The Coupe des Dames
(Best Female Contender) Awards were claimed by Khyati Mody in the Xtreme
category, Aishwarya Pissay in the Moto category and to Capt. Abhilasha Singh in
the Ndure category.
India’s
Dakar hero and Hero MotoSports’ rider CS Santosh put a strong show in the
rally. This is his first rally after the 2019 Dakar, where he suffered a
massive crash and could not continue further. Even
in the second stage today in the Desert Storm rally, Santosh had navigational
issues due to a broken GPS mount coupled with the low visibility due to a sand
storm (not for nothing it is called Desert Storm rally). Despite the setbacks, he held on to his second place this makes him the fastest Indian rally rider in the Desert Storm 2019, which is commendable. It was also an
incident-free rally for him.
CS Santosh on the Desert Storm and his next rally
“This is
also the first year I rode without any major incidents or penalties over the
course of the race so I’m finally making progress. Happy to say the bike is improving every time
I get on it and we had absolutely no problems! Next stop is Baja Aragon in
July!”
Congratulations
to all the winners!
Images
by Northern Motorsport and Polaris India
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