Do You Dare?

The eighth edition of the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare saw 190 rally enthusiasts, on two wheels and four, participate across 2,200 kilometres of varied terrain across South India.

- Anosh Khumbatta

THE 2016 EDITION of the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare kicked off on 31 July from Bengaluru, with teams headed towards Goa and several off-road stages thrown in along the way.

The rally was flagged off by Ram Suresh Akella, Vice President, Sales, at Maruti Suzuki, and participants headed towards Kodagu (Coorg) 250 kilometres away. The rally enthusiasts were faced with challenging terrain over the first three stages, which were spread over 63 kilometres, while moving from Kodagu to Shimoga, the cultural capital of Karnataka.

By the end of the second day, it was veteran rally driver and nine- time Raid De Himalaya winner Suresh Rana, with co-driver Parminder Thakur, leading the standings in the Ultimate Cars category in their Suzuki Grand Vitara, closely followed by Amanpreet Ahluwalia and Karan Aukta in their Maruti Gypsy. In the Endurance category, driving in the Time Speed Distance (TSD) format, Raghu Nandan with co-driver M Prakash led the pack, closely followed by Ganash Moorthy and Nagarajan T.