Following a week of high altitude racing, mechanical setbacks and hard driving in the awe-inspiring vistas of the Himalayas, the 2017 Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya concluded its journey today. The 2,000km-long rally claimed a lot of retirements in the X-treme category. Yet its arduous nature couldn’t dampen the spirit of the leaders. Here are the final results.
The 2017 Raid traversed through the terrains of Kaza, Sarchu, Pang, Leh, Kargil and Pensi La, with competitors driving at high altitudes of up to 17,500 feet.
In the end, it was Suresh Rana who claimed the top spot in the X-treme cars category. Driving for Team Maruti Suzuki, the ‘Raid Legend’ claimed his eleventh title this year. Sanjay Razdan came in second in his Maruti Gypsy while the last podium position went to Sanjay Agarwal who was behind the wheel of a Grand Vitara.
As expected, Rana had a comfortable lead over others by the end of leg 6. The final standings, in fact, revealed a time difference of over 50 minutes between Rana and runner-up Sanjay Razdan.
Final Results
X-treme Cars
Suresh Rana/PVS Murthy in Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara – 09:22:17
Sanjay Razdan/Karan Aukta in Maruti Suzuki Gypsy – 10:13:14
Sanjay Agarwal/Smitha N in Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara – 10:35:34
Dharam Pal Jangra/Sultan in Maruti Suzuki Brezza – 10:45:41
Padia Niju Nanalal/Sabatullah Khan in Mitsubishi Pajero Sport – 10:48:23
Sandeep Sharma/Karan Arya in Maruti Suzuki S-Cross – 10:58:30
Shuchi Thakur/Shahid Salman in Maruti Gypsy – 11:19:32
Capt HS Rathore/Divyant Mann in Maruti Gypsy – 12:43:37
Hav Mangal Singh/Yadav Singh in Maruti Gypsy – 12:53:08
Amrinder Singh/Maj Pareek in Maruti Gypsy – 14:49:34