The 6th Maruti
Suzuki Dakshin Dare 2014 which covered more than 2000kms in a span of five days,
concluded on August 10, 2014. The rally made its way through picturesque northern Karnataka for the first time
ever, traversing through South India’s exotic locations. These included places
like Tumkur, Hiriyur, Chitradurga, Bellary,Hospet, Hampi, Koppal, Hubli and Karwar.
On the 5th and final day
the race made its way towards the west coast driving through the countryside to
finally reach Goa. On their way to the Arabian, stood the final Windmill leg of
the rally- the last chance for the drivers to win the coveted competition. The
four stages of the day were set in the hills of Koppal district. There was also
a dirt track running up and down the slopes with gravel and slushy corners. On
the final day, the drivers drove a total distance of 500 kms across the four
stages.
The top honours for the rally went
to Team Maruti’s Sandeep Sharma and Varun Davessar in the extreme category
registering a total time of 3:41:26, in their Maruti Gypsy. The second spot was
won by Sanjay Agarwal and Venu Ramesh Kumar also from Team Maruti, driving a
Maruti Gypsy with a time of 3:42:49. Defending champion of Dakshin Dare 2013, Amanpreet
Ahluwalia and Sudeep Halder displayed great driving skills to finish the rally
at 3rd position with a time of 3:44:56, after being 8th
on the second day. Suresh Rana a legend in the motoring circuit continued to
push his Maruti Gypsy, to finish fourth with a total time of 3:47:01.
In the Extreme Bike category, erstwhile
champion Nataraj was edged out by Mohit Verma who went on to grab the first
place finishing the rally with the overall time of 3:29:15. The defending
champion of 2013, Nataraj (3:33:30) and Pramod Joshua (3:35:37) stood second
and third respectively.
Team Maruti drivers Karthick Maruti
and Sankar Anand driving the Maruti Suzuki MUV Ertiga came first in the Endurance
category with a total penalty time of 2:13. The second spot went to Sachin Singh
and Prathima who finished with a penalty time of 2:51. Again in third place were
Ganesh Moorthy and T Nagarajan of Team Maruti finishing at 3:10.
The final winners were announced during
the closing ceremony held in Goa on August 10, 2014. Manohar Bhatt, Vice President,
Marketing, Maruti Suzuki said that the rally touched new heights with the new
route throwing up unexpected and daunting challenges. “It’s great to see the
Maruti Suzuki teams being on the podium positions in both Extreme and Endurance
categories. It’s a testament to the fact that Maruti vehicles are suitable for
any kind of terrain and can come out on top each time. We hope to see next
year’s Dakshin Dare to raise the bar higher,” he said.