14th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm Rally flagged off

Posted on April 4, 2016

Noida, 03 April 2016: The 14th edition of of the Desert Storm Rally which will cover a total of 2000 kms, travelling through Hanumanagarh, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Jaipur has been flagged off from Noida. The last leg of the rally will conclude in Jodhpur on 10 April. This year a record 200 motorsport enthusiasts are participating from various cities like Jaipur, Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Bangalore. Maruti Suzuki’s newly launched Vitara Brezza will be a part of the rally for the first time.

Introduced in 2002, the rally provides the thrill of off-road rallying and this year has an innovative flexi-format in the Xplore category. It will span over six-days across four categories – XTreme, NDure, XPlore & Moto. A night leg of the rally covering 200 kms is planned for the second day in the Bikaner to Jaisalmer section.

Champions from past rallies like Suresh Rana, Sandeep Sharma, C S Santosh and Karthick Maruthi will be seen in action. Three time winners of Desert Storm, Bani Yadav and her navigator Sukhbans Mann will be one of the 6 women teams. Winner of Desert Storm 2010 and 2015, Aabhishek Mishra, from Jaipur will be seen driving the Maruti Suzuki Vitara and Karthick Maruthi will be driving the Vitara Brezza.

The schedule is as follows:

Date	Event	Highlight
2^nd and3rd April 2016	Scrutiny
3^rd April 2016	Ceremonial Flag off from Noida	Rally to travel from Noida to Hanumangarh
4^th April 2016	Leg 1	Hanumangarh to Bikaner with two competitive sections enroute.
5^thand 6^th April 2016	Leg 2	Bikaner to Jaisalmer Toughest day of the rally. 187 kms of competition distance.
7^th April 2016	Leg 3	Rally starts in the wee morning hours at Jaisalmer. Prize distribution for the Xplore Dawn category
8^th April 2016	Leg 4	Two stages plus a night leg Start of Xplore Dusk
9^th April 2016	Leg 5	Rally travels to Jodhpur
10^th April 2016	Prize Distribution