2017 Maruti Suzuki Raid de Himalaya: Results

Words by Afzal Rawuther

The 2017 edition of the Maruti Suzuki Raid de Himalaya concluded in Leh after covering a distance of close to 1850kms over the course of six days and ten competitive stages.

The 19^th edition of the rally bore witness to the harshest of terrains, the most inhospitable locations and extreme weather. Less than 50 percent of the participants could finish the rally.

Suresh Rana from Maruti Suzuki motorsport continued his dominance in the X-treme category with his 11^th victory in the Raid de Himalaya. TVS Racing enjoyed a stellar run too, grabbing all the podium positions in the X-treme Bikes category.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Tarun Garg, Executive Vice President – Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. said, “Raid De Himalaya has always been synonymous with adventure, uncertainty and extreme conditions. But this year it stepped one notch higher with the new gruelling route which challenged abilities of even the most established rallyists. I congratulate the winners and each one of the finalists who made it through braving the challenges. We, at Maruti Suzuki will continue to promote the passion of driving and racing in a technically competent and safe manner conforming to the highest international standards.”

Suresh Rana and PVS Murthy from Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsport drove home the title in their Grand Vitara comfortably, with a time of 09:22:17 hrs in the X-treme Cars category. Coming a close second were Sanjay Razdan and Karan Aukta in their Maruti Gypsy covering the distance in 10:13:14 hrs; followed by Sanjay Agarwal and Smitha N in their Grand Vitara covering the distance in 10:35:33 hrs; while Dharam Pal Jangra and Abhishek Sultan in their Vitara Brezza covered the distance in 10:45:41 hrs.

Commenting on the win, Rana said, “Winning Raid De Himalaya is always rewarding and boosts my morale every year. This is my 11^th  win and yet the thrill and joy is just like my 1^st.  To breakthrough in these extreme weather conditions, along with driver skills one also needs a tough vehicle supported  by a reliable service  crew  and feel privileged to have access to all this as a part of Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsport.”

Abdul Wahid in his TVS RTR 450 FX won the X-treme Bikes category covering the distance in 07:44:03; followed by R. Natraj in TVS RTR 450 covering the distance in 07:47:03 and R E Rajendra in TVS RTR 200FX covering the distance in 08:57:29.

In the Adventure Car category, Rajesh Chalana and Satish Gopalkrishnan finished first driving a Maruti Swift. Rakesh Choudhary & Raja Hisham in Maruti SX4 and Shubham Middha and Anshul Asati in Maruti SX4 stood at second and third position respectively. Whereas, in the Adventure SUV category, Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta stood first in the Maruti Gypsy. Shashwat Gupta & Chirag Thakur in Isuzu V Cross and Shailendra Singh and Dinky Varghese in Skoda Yeti stood at second and third position respectively.

The much anticipated rally saw motorsport rallyists participating across X-treme Cars, X-treme Bikes and Adventure categories, overcoming incredibly difficult terrain across Manali, Kaza, Pang, Kargil and Leh.