Bangalore: India's leading rallyist Suresh Rana will the driver to watch as Gaurav Gill will not defend his title at the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Rally, which was flagged off here today amidst much fanfare.
Reigning champion Gill will miss the action as his side, Team Mahindra has decided to the skip the event.
Gill's Team Mahindra teammate Lohit Urs, who had finished second in the last edition, will also be missing from the action.
Overall, 147 motor racing enthusiasts will traverse through a multitude of dirt, tarmac, gravels and slippery tracks in different categories over the next five days, covering a gruelling distance of 2000 km.
Dakshin Dare will witness motorists race across dense forests, river beds, hill stations, wind mill farms, hair-pin bends, and tea & coffee plantations before the rally concludes here on August 9.
The Rally will have night halts at tourist hot spots such as Mysore, Ooty and Coimbatore while it traverses through exotic locations of Chikmagalore, Waynad, Palani, Kodaikanal, Pollachi, Valparai among others.
The relentless monsoon showers in the region will, without doubt, prove to be daunting as the rallyists battle the curving, narrow roads snaking along Western Ghat and Nilgiris.
Early morning tomorrow, the rally will head to Mysore for a night halt before proceeding to Ooty on Tuesday for the second leg and then on to Coimbatore for the third and fourth legs ahead of the final run back to Bangalore on August 9.
The focus will be on Manali-man Rana, popularly known as the “King of Hills”, driving a Grand Vitara, the same set of vehicle he had used for his successful campaign at the 2012 Raid-de-Himalaya and 2013 Desert Storm.
The 43-year-old Rana, who will be looking to stamp his dominance on the plains of Tamil Nadu, the Deccan Plateau, Nilgris and the Western Ghats for Team Maruti in the T1 Extreme Category for modified vehicles said, "The aim is always to win. This is the only major trophy missing from my cabinet."
Challenging Rana will be the oldest driver (48 years) in the Extreme category and Bangalore's former national rally champion Sanjay Agarwal with his navigator Shiva Prakash in Grand Vitara.
Agarwal has more than 200 podium finishes in four wheelers class. He won the 2004 INRC title in Gypsy class and Raid-de-Himalaya the very next year. Also seen in action will be Shafiq-ur Rehman from Chikmagalur in his Gypsy.
Out of 147 participants, 30 are in four-wheel Extreme category and 94 in Endurance category. There are 15 teams in Extreme and 47 in Endurance categories besides 23 in Extreme Bikes category, including 5 scooters.
Each will cover between 300kms to 600kms per day, inclusive of special and transport stages. There are five teams from Maruti Suzuki, two teams of women rallyists from Hyderabad and New Delhi and a couple-team from Bangalore.
Rally spreads over 34 high speed special stages. Compared to start list of 99 in the last edition, the figure of 147 this year is a growth of around 57 per cent in participation.
The Scooter class will be making its debut in the two-wheeler category with six riders from Chandigarh, Mumbai and Nashik in the fray.