Beyond the competitive space of selling cars, where it is the market leader, Maruti Suzuki has been actively promoting motorsports in the country for over a decade now. To popularize action sport, the Maruti Suzuki motorsport calendar is packed with exciting motoring events.

Be it for a motorsport enthusiast, an amateur or a professional, there are events that offer the thrill and joy of motorsport to one and all. The events include Maruti Suzuki Autocross Championship and professional rallies including Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya, Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare and, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm which has recently been concluded in Jodhpur. These events provide rallying thrills as well as promote safe driving habits.

Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm 2017

The 15th edition of the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm came to an eventful end with results being declared at the final stage in Jodhpur. This year’s rally saw more than 200 participants, rallying in four major categories -Xplore, Endure, Moto, and Extreme. The thrilling motorsport rally event was organised by the renowned Northern Motorsport and sponsored by India’s leading carmaker Maruti Suzuki.

Since the start in Hanumangarh, the competition ran through 11 competitive stages travelling through the cities like Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur and there were quite a few lead changes and twists in the tale to keep the racing interested.

All the categories saw twists and turns, with amazing winners at the end of the race. Like in Moto Class, R Nataraj, on two wheels emerged as the overall winner. Major drama happened in the Moto class as the defending champion from Hero MotoSports team – C S Santosh incurred a massive 35 minutes of penalty after he checked in 15-minutes late at the final TC. Thus, TVS Racing’s R Nataraj was crowned the 2017 Moto class winner.

TVS Racing’s R Nataraj was crowned the 2017 Moto class winner

Similarly, in Xtreme Class, Suresh Rana and Ashwin Naik emerged as winners of the 15th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm. Driving their Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, the driver-navigator duo clocked a time of 11:50:44s to top the XTreme category. The Team Maruti driver was able to get his Grand Vitara to the finish point in Jodhpur nearly 45 minutes earlier than his closest rival Himanshu Arora.

Suresh Rana and Ashwin Naik emerged as winners of the 15th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm

Whereas in Ndure catergory Nikunj Toshniwal and co-driver Suvrajit Dutta won the title, while Karthick Maruthi and S Sankar Anand took home the trophy in the Xplore category, driving their Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza.

Nikunj Toshniwal and co-driver Suvrajit Dutta

Maruti Suzuki Indian National Autocross Championship: In 2016, The Autocross championship was held in multiple cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Noida. The Championship is a great opportunity to showcase the motorsport capability with little or no modification to car. The Final Championship round was held at Buddh International Circuit and witnessed champions from southern India competing with champions from northern India competing to become Indian National Autocross Champion.This year autocross championship was won by Amanpreet Ahluwalia.

Maruti Suzuki Indian National Autocross Champion Amanpreet Ahluwalia

Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya: One of the toughest rallies in the world, Raid de Himalaya is the mecca of rallying in Asia for the die-hard competitor. The raid is believed to be the lone Indian motorsport event listed on Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) calendars for the 18th consecutive year. Suresh Rana from Team Maruti has won Raid de Himalaya title 10 times. The world’s highest Rally Raid, is an extreme endurance event of marathon proportions. The rally is open to 4×4’s, Trucks, Motos and Quadbikes; which runs in three categories namely, xtreme, endure and xtreme moto. The grueling route traversed approximately 2000 Kms through some of the toughest terrains like Manali, Kaza, Sarchu and Leh. Maruti Suzuki Motorsport has been associated with the brand since the year 1998.

Winners of Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya – Suresh Rana and Ashwin Naik

Maruti Suzuki National Superleague TSD Rally Championship (NSTSD): The championship is a combination of six different rallies namely Uttarakhand Rally, Backwaters Rally, Mughal Rally, Deccan Rally, Rally of Arunachal and Rally of Himachal. A participant has to participate in all the 6 rallies to qualify for the championship. The championship tests the endurance of the vehicles in multi-terrains and brings the ultimate joy of rallying to the owners.

The Maruti Suzuki NSTSD rally championship is open to only the four-wheeler category. This year’s championship was won by Karthick Maruthi who was awarded a Maruti Suzuki Brezza.

Since last few years, Maruti Suzuki has held many motorsports for the passion of mankind for challenges and endurance. The rallies have its unique charm because of the geography that it covers, the great Indian Thar Desert, different cities, terrains etc. Motorsports are known to attract over a record number of spectators each year – both locals and international visitors alike.

To know more about the upcoming events, please check http://www.marutisuzukimotorsport.com/.

Tags: Adventure, Autocross Championship, Desert Storm, Maruti Suzuki, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, Motorsport, Motorsports, Raid-de-Himalaya