Defending champion Aabhishek Mishra proved to be in a league of his own as he dominated each leg of the grueling Desert Storm to claim the coveted title for the fourth time here on Saturday.
The 30-year-old from Jaipur thus became only the third driver to defend the Storm, an FMSCI-approved event, along with six-time winner Sunny Sidhu and Suresh Rana. With co-driver Srikanth Gowda by his side, he conquered the heat, the desert and one of the strongest fields ever in 9 hours 21 minutes and 45 seconds for a commendable victory.
In the Moto Category, Adrian Metge of Team TVS Racing was equally commanding, winning the country’s longest motorbike rally with a cumulative time of 6 hours 13 minutes and 25 seconds. Ankur Chauhan (and co-driver Prakash M) was the other big winner, taking the Endure Category.
“This is an incredibly special win for us,” Aabhishek Mishra, who shepherded his Maruti Vitara smartly, said, shortly after his victory. “I have won the title in the four-wheel category four times and once in the motorbike category. But this year was the toughest due to the conditions as also because of the competition, which attracted all the top drivers, teams and manufacturers in the country,” he added.
Driving a Toyota Fortuner for the first time in a rally, Chandigarh’s Samrat Yadav (and co-driver Kunal Kashyap) grabbed the second position in 09:41:34 by showing remarkable poise and consistency over the scorching four days. Arunachal Pradesh’s Lakhpa Tsering (co-driver V Venu Rameshkumar) overcame a slow start to corner the third position in his Polaris RZR 1000.
The Army Team, returning to competitive rally after a long hiatus, will be proud of their show in the Thar Desert. Capt AVS Gill (co-driver Diwakar Kalia) claimed the fourth place in the Extreme Category while Aman Katoch (Siddhartha Nandal), Parth Bharadwaj (Mohit Bisht) and Sanjay Jadon (Sahil Dua) took the third, fourth and fifth places in the Endure Category.
India’s Dakar star CS Santosh breathed fire down Adrian Metge’s neck in each of the stages, surpassing him a few times too, to finish second in the Moto Category.
The Honda Motorsports frontman will rue the second day which handed Metge a huge lead and proved to be impossible to bridge in the final analysis. TVS Racing’s Abdul Wahid Tanveer, who clocked a cumulative timing of 06:35:28, took the other place on the podium.
Aabhishek Mishra and co-driver Srikanth Gowda from Team Sparky’s Garage have emerged as the ultimate champions of Xtreme Category (cross country rally for cars) at Rally Desert Storm 2019 with cumulative time of 9 hours 21 minutes 45 seconds. With this win, Aabhishek Mishra joined the likes of Suresh Rana and Sunny Sidhu to have successfully defended their Desert Storm Xtreme Title.
The three champions – Mishra, Metge and Chauhan – and other podium finishers, category winners and special award winners, were felicitated at a glittering prize distribution ceremony at the Jaisalmer Marriott Resorts & Spa late in the evening.
Among the key awards won, the Team Trophy (Xtreme Category) went to Team Army Adventure Wing, Team Trophy (Moto) to TVS Racing, Team Trophy (Ndure) to Team Army Adventure Wing. The Coupe des Dames (Best Female Contender) Awards were claimed by Khyati Mody in the Xtreme category, Aishwarya Pissay in the Moto category and to Capt. Abhilasha Singh in the Ndure category.
