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Desert Storm, Leg 5: Rana wins Xtreme, Nataraj seals Moto after late drama

Suresh Rana has won the Xtreme class of Desert Storm, while a late turn of events saw R Nataraj take the top honours in the Moto category.

Suresh Rana, Ashwin Naik, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara

Suresh Rana, Ashwin Naik, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara

Maruti Suzuki

Over 100 rallyists took part in the 15th edition of Desert Storm, which began on January 29 in Noida with the flag-off ceremony. After five legs, 11 stages and 700 kms of competitive distance, a fraction of them made it to the finish line.

In the Xtreme category, Rana had a near-faultless run as he took his fifth victory in the Rajasthan-based cross-country rally.

The Manali-born driver led Desert Storm for almost its entirety in his Maruti Grand Vitara, only briefly losing the top spot when he was hit with a penalty for checking-in too early for stage eight.

Rana’s early challengers Gaurav Chiripal and Sanjay Aggarwal hit all sorts of troubles, allowing Himanshu Arora and co-driver Chirag Thakur to take second place overall.

Whereas, Saazid Singha (co-driver Parishrut Jinha) took the third spot in a partially factory-backed Isuzu D-Max V-Cross.

Meanwhile, Tervinder Jeet Singh (co-driver Jeevarathinam) was declared the winner in the T-2 sub-category, with Sirish Chandran (co-driver Aniruddha Rangneka) finishing second and Punyabrata Barma (co-driver Mrinoy Saha) classified third.

Nataraj steals Moto crown from Santosh

There was late-drama in the Moto category after provisional winner CS Santosh in the Hero bike was handed a penalty for a 30-minute delay in the transportation stage.

It was Santosh's second penalty in Desert Storm, the Bangalore-based driver having been penalised earlier in Leg 2 for failing to completely stop at a stop-and-go point.

Hero appealed against the first of the two penalties, but the organisers upheld their decision, leaving Santosh in third place.

Santosh’s woes allowed TVS Racing to take a 1-2 finish, with Nataraj leading home Tanveer Abdul Wahid.

The Indian manufacturer was running RTR 450FX bikes, while Santosh was riding a Dakar-spec Speedbrain 450.

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