10th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm concludes 90 out of 100 winning cars from Maruti Suzuki

The 10^th edition of the annual Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rally culminated in Ahmedabad, on Saturday. For Maruti Suzuki it is yet again a winning moment with top 4 spots in the “Xtreme category” being bagged by Maruti Suzuki vehicles. Interestingly, out of the top 3 winners across the categories, 2 winning teams were Maruti Suzuki vehicles, reinforcing the high end   urance, built and make of Maruti brands.

The winners:

In the last and deciding leg of the rally, the finalists underwent a neck to neck competition to grab the top spot. The marshy tracks of the great Rann of Kutch, in the final lap from Bhuj-Ahmedabad, provided an apt crescendo to the 6-day annual event that crisscrosses the dry West-Indian terrain. Speaking on the occasion Mr. Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager (Marketing), Maruti Suzukisaid, “My compliments to the winning teams. With every passing year it is heartening to see the refinement in the endurance levels of both the machines and the motorsports enthusiasts. More than winning, it is the spirit of participation and completion of the rally that matters. We are happy over 60% of the rallyists lived up to that expectation and successfully completed the rally. This also demonstrates maturity of the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm. It is now quite at par with many international motorsports events. As in the past and true to our kaizen (continuous improvement) spirit, our effort will be to keep our motorsports events thrilling. Our core team in partnership with Northern Motorsports will add more interesting legs to the rally next year.”

Incidentally, there were many surprises in the rally this time. The tough off-road terrain, comprising of gravel, sand and rocks, made the drivers toil really hard for the top ranks. Defending champion Sunny Sidhu was force to pull out of the 10th edition with a seized engine, within the first leg. The 3500 km long car rally after the flag off from New Delhi, undertook the testing night rallying leg before entering destinations such as Sardarshahar, Bikaner and Pokaran. In its third leg, the Rally covered treacherous terrains of the great Thar Desert in Jaisalmer and dry lands of Bhuj. On the whole, the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm lived up to its promise of being one of the toughest motorsport rallies in the country. As many as 32cars out of the 50 competing in the Xtreme category were forced to pull out, while in the Ndure category, only 28 cars remained out of the original cast of48. Bikers fared no better as only10 competitors completed the rally route out of the 16 which had started off on 20^th February 2012. For the first time, this year’s rally saw the introduction of a truck category. Four trucks competed in the ENDURE category. 

Participation highlights: The growing popularity of the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm is evident with an increased participation in the rally. Like its sibling up north, Maruti Suzuki Raid-De Himalaya, Dessert Storm also has participants from across India. This year, in addition to regular participants, Maruti Suzuki has also fielded its employee teams for the rally, including an all ladies’ team driving the all new Swift. The rally also has participation by teams from several wings of the Indian armed forces. Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm is being organized with the help of Northern Motorsports for the 10th year in the running. Northern Motorsport is one of the leading motorsport organisations India. It organises a series of challenging motorsport events including the Maruti Suzuki Autocross.