After 17 stages, Jagat Nanjappa and Chetan Changappa from V5 Offroaders took the lead on the fourth day and held on to their lead in the night stages too. They amassed a total of 1261 points. Gerrari Offroaders took the second and third positions with 1199 and 1087 points. Eight stages were held yesterday and including four night stages.
Special Stage 10 was a short course with a gradual descent, that lead to a slope where momentum mattered. Many of the teams scaled the slope going flat out. Positioning of the vehicle played a key role, too. After that slope, the vehicles had to enter a pit take a U-turn and climb up another incline which had a sharp drop immediately. Many vehicles dangled in awkward angles before recovering due to the steep drop on the left. The short and narrow track leading to the last incline meant little room for manoeuvring the vehicles. After this, it was a home run to the finish box the way they came. The defending champions Gurmeet and Kirpal finished this stage in about a minute. A couple of teams broke their steering due to a wrong approach in the first and second inclines and did not finish. One team used the winch effectively for all the inclines and finished but lost precious time. The women’s team powered their way though all the inclines without using winch. It was a tricky and easy stage with mixed results where strategy mattered a lot.
SS 11 was one of the tough stages where strategy and positioning of the vehicle mattered while tackling inclines. This stage consisted of a bumpy descent with a hard right turn that led to a pit with a stone wall at the other end. The winch point out of this was long. After winching out of this, it was a bumpy ascent with a hard left which led to the final hurdle which was a short and steep stone wall. Most of the participants finished this stage with more or less with the same approach.
SS12 was a held inside a big pit. A slope that led to a hard left and a sharp drop. The vehicles had to take a right turn that lead to near vertical incline with two stone walls to be scaled. Winching point was at the other end of the stonewall where ground anchor was to be used to winch out. The vehicles had to descend again and take a left turn that led to another incline with multiple stonewalls and to the finish box. Most of the teams sailed through this stage. The women’s team however, took a long winching point at the first hurdle, got stuck at the second hurdle briefly and they were almost there but time ran out. They lost precious time as they took a long winch point.
SS13 was another easy stage where teams had to drive in a stream for the major part. Starting at the top of the hill, they had to negotiate a rocky descent that led to the stream. All vehicles powered through the stream, pass a gate, take a round about without damaging another gate, and drive in the same stream back to the top of the hill. A couple of the participants damaged the bunting and the pegs which earned them penalties.
There are four more stages set to take place today. Stay tuned for more updates on our social media handles.