Dakshin Dare – The Grand Vitara is team Maruti’s mightiest competitor

While the S-Cross and the Vitara Brezza are young and fresh performers at the Desert Storm, Team Maruti Suzuki’s brutest contender, the Grand Vitara will always remain one of the old and reliable performers alongside the Gypsy. At the 2017 Desert Storm rally, Suresh Rana along with co-driver Ashwin Naik drove their Grand Vitara to an exciting win in the Xtreme Class and topped the leaderboard by clocking a time of 11 hours and 50 minutes. And it stole all the thunder as it was the most exciting and action-packed rally. But at this time of the year, the game’s different as the Grand Vitara will head onto 2018 Dakshin Dare cross country competition. So, here’s a sneak-peak into its underpinnings.

The rally-spec Grand Vitara is powered by a much meatier 2.4L petrol engine. And bear in mind, unlike the turbo’ed oil-guzzlers in the S-Cross and the Brezza, this one is naturally aspirated. So, it’s safe to assume that power will be delivered in a much more linear manner. Though what it shares with its younger siblings is the same ALL-GRIP tech that will provide massive grip and will power the heavy SUV through tough terrain. It also shares the same Reigers suspension which will allow Team Maruti Suzuki’s candidates to drive the car a little more fearlessly over the scary patches.

Even though it’s proven that team Maruti Suzuki’s Grand Vitara is a capable competitor, it will be interesting to see how it fares this time at the 2018 Dakshin Dare, which can be tougher than previous years. Like last year, the SUV will be driven by team Maruti’s five-time Dakshin Dare winner, Suresh Rana while the co-driving duties will be done by three-time desert storm group winner Chirag Thakur.