Desert Storm: Mishra and Mare declared Xtreme and Moto winners

With defending Xtreme champion Suresh Rana and Hero’s star rider CS Santosh retiring from Leg 3, the competition was thrown open in both categories.

Mishra, who had been leading even before Rana’s engine blew up in the marathon stage, eventually claimed victory with a healthy margin of 34m32s in his Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara.

Raj Singh Rathore (co-driver Sagar Mallapa) topped Friday’s 24km mini-stage, but that was simply not enough to dispatch Mishra from the top of the timesheets.

Rathore, who provisionally won the 2015 Raid de Himalaya before being stripped of victory due to having an unregistered car, had lost a significant chunk of time on Wednesday when his Isuzu V-Cross ran out of fuel 500m before the finish line.

Meanwhile, Niju Padia (co-driver Nirav Mehta) finished another 45 mins adrift of the leading duo in his Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, ensuring the presence of three different manufacturers on the podium. Vinam Jain (co-driver Karan Malik) and Avs Gill (co-driver Diwakar Kalia) completed the top-five.

None of the Team Maruti  Suzuki cars finished the rally, with Sandeep Sharma, Dharma Jangra and Samrat Yadav joining Rana among the list of retirees on either Day 3 or Day 4.

Mare surges ahead to take Moto crown

Over in the Moto category, which saw its fair share of drama with Santosh and several TVS riders, including Abdul Wahid Tanveer, retiring, Mare took home a comfortable win for Angata Racing.

The South African was the fastest of all in the final stage, eventually scoring the overall win with a gap of 39m49s over his nearest rival and teammate Sanjay Kumar.

Kumar managed to leapfrog TVS’ sole remaining rider Santolino Lorenzo after the latter received a hefty 56 min penalty in the final stage.

Lal Sharma and Yuva Kumar finished behind the podium trio in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Update: Lorenzo was promoted to second in the final order, with Kumar pushed down to third.