Mahindra Adventure’s Super XUV500 won the top three
positions at the 40th edition of the K 1000 rally, the 5th round of the Indian
Rally Championship (IRC) 2014. The team has thus sealed the overall title in
this premier national rallying series. The team has already won three of the
four rounds of the IRC – the Rally of Maharashtra, Rally of Coimbatore and
Rally De Bengal. This victory ensured that Team Mahindra Adventure closed its
overall title position in the championship and the Super XUV500 created history
by becoming the first ever diesel SUV to win the Indian Rally Championship.
According to a company press release, the highlights of Team
Mahindra Adventure’s triumph was the great performance of the Super XUV500
driven by current APRC champion Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sheriff), who won
the rally, followed by the current Desert Storm Champion Sunny Sidhu (co-driver
PVS Murthy) and the reigning Indian Rally Champion, Amittrajit Ghosh (co-driver
Ashwin Naik) who came in third overall. With the coveted top three positions,
Team Mahindra Adventure has swept the IRC title this year.
Vivek Nayer, Chief Marketing Officer, Automotive Division,
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. said, “This unprecedented victory by Mahindra SUVs
is yet another testimony of the tough and rugged DNA of Mahindra vehicles.
Having already won the top positions in three of the four rounds of the Indian
Rally Championship, our emphatic win at the prestigious ‘K 1000 Rally 2014’, has
sealed our position for the overall title of IRC. The fact that all the three
top positions were secured by Team Mahindra make this win even more special.
Time and again our SUVs are proving their mettle on rough terrain against the
competition and we will continue to do so during the rest of the IRC season as
well.”
About K 1000 Rally
In its 40th edition, the K 1000 Rally is the oldest running
rally in the country and the 3rd oldest rally in the world. The KMSC started it
in 1959 and has always had a strong team of people running various events for
the past 64 years, encompassing Racing (Agram circuit and Kolar Classics),
Autocross, Motocross, Supercross, Hill Climbs, Drag meets and of course
Rallies. The K 1000 rally was called so because it started as a TSD Rally and
run over a distance of 1600 kms, across 3 states.
This year, the rally ran three stages: Alpha stage - 12.75
kms, Beta stage - 14.95 kms and India Mines stage - 9.55 kms. The stages were
well laid out and consisted of long straights, hair-pin curves, smooth flat
sections, jumps and tight sections, thereby testing the driver and his machine
to their limits.