Veteran cross-country rally specialist Sandeep ‘sunny’ sidhu scores a historic victory for mahindra and its xuv 500
It was something that was hinted at ever since Mahindra took the leap of faith to enter cross country rallying in India in the Xtreme category of the Desert Storm in 2012.
Although watching the XUV 500 struggle with software glitches to the point that Gaurav Gill had to get his entire rear differential removed (Mahindra had converted both their cars to four wheel drive) was hardly encouraging. Lohitt Urs, however, managed to nurse his car long enough to get to a point in the rally where the XUV 500 was unbeatable as far as the cars were concerned.
The blast on the Rann of Kutch had left eventual winner Suresh Rana admiring the car that clearly had the legs on his Gypsy that was more than a little worse for wear. Rana – a nine time Raid de Himalaya winner – knew that it was only a matter of time that the XUV 500 would beat the Gypsy on the overall standings.
That very same year, Maruti-Suzuki upgraded Rana’s ride to a Grand Vitara for the Raid de Himalaya that he duly won while Mahindra struggled again with their XUV 500.
Cut to the 2013 edition of the Desert Storm and Rana was victorious in his factory supported Grand Vitara while Sunny Sidhu was second in a Mahindra Thar. The XUV 500s that were entered did not fare so well despite the likes of former Production World Rally champion Karamjit Singh and Gaurav Gill behind the wheel along with Urs.
By 2013 Mahindra had also taken the bold step of entering the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) parallel to their efforts in cross country rallying. It was a program that took its strain on them as they were left unprepared to enter the Raid de Himalya that year. Their last minute withdrawal despite being listed as entrants was one of the talking points of the event that Rana went on to win for Maruti-Suzuki.
Quite a long backstory to start of this article for sure but adds to the flavour of a new development in Indian motorsport. That being of an Indian-built car by an Indian company triumphing at this year’s Desert Storm.
Mahindra’s 1-4 finish, with Sidhu victorious along with Urs, was a stamp of validation for a program that has brought together some of the most high-profile figures in Indian rallying together.
Defending FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship title holder Gaurav Gill (although he doesn’t seem to be at home over cross-country distances), Sidhu, Urs and former seven time INRC champion N Leelakrishnan whose Red Rooster Performance is responsible for tuning and setting up the rally XUV 500s.
It was even rumoured that Mahindra was once interested in poaching Suresh Rana from Maruti-Suzuki when they were getting their rallying program underway.
But for the sake of competition, perhaps it’s a good thing that it hasn’t happened. After all, no rivalry in motorsport is really a rivalry if you don’t have equally prepped camps.
Maruti-Suzuki may have had to withdraw Rana from the event on the opening day this year, but that is no guarantee that the company that pays the bills for both the Desert Storm and the Raid de Himalaya to run in the first place, won’t want to bounce back.
Rana himself has been vocal in wanting Maruti-Suzuki to let him enter the INRC with the Grand Vitara that currently sees little or no running between cross-country events. During last year’s Raid, for instance, Rana admitted that the car he drove on the Dakshin Dare was completely idle before he picked it up from Delhi and drove to compete in the event.
It would be fun for fans and those who cover motorsport to see the SUV category of the INRC see an entrant other than Mahindra for sure. Although political strife within Indian motorsport seems to have left the INRC in a frustrating limbo for now.
BIKES AND QUADS
Thankfully it doesn’t affect the likes of CS Santosh and Raj Singh Rathore too much.
Santosh bounced back from his disappointment of retiring from last year’s Raid de Himalaya to win the Desert Storm on his Suzuki RMX 450 by a huge margin from Austria’s Helmut Frauwallner. By the time you read this Santosh would be well on the way to the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the season opener in the FIA cross-country world championship.
The Bangalore native struck a deal to ride a factory KTM bike that was used last year by multiple Dakar winner Marc Coma.
Santosh suffered near fatal burns in last year’s event that prompted a long rehabilitation that is now complete and sees him raring to go.
Indian motorsport enthusiasts are hoping that Raj Singh Rathore too can strike such deals to help him compete outside of India too.
Seeing Rathore in his Polaris RZR XP 900 finishing ahead of the cars in cross country rallies has become a really common sight. Although not so much in the over classification as his ATV is not yet road legal! There is no registration process for quads in India as yet. In fact, if you were to go to the Polaris showroom to pick one up, you would need to have the vehicle of your choice towed on a flat bed due to the lack of registration. Polaris is hoping to get this rectified soon with ATVs in India being registered as quadricycles.
Following that maybe Rathore and Polaris can think of going beyond the competition that India has to offer.
The money is tight and motorsport (beyond F1) is not particularly well covered outside of print media but no harm in dreaming big right?
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