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aprile 14, 2016 - Suzuki Racing

Suzuki wins Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rally

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India’s top rally-raid rider CS Santosh defended his title in the Maruti #suzuki Desert Storm 2016 race at the weekend as he powered his #suzuki #rmx450z Rally to victory in the #moto class by more-than nine minutes after 800 km of #racing, despite being given a 60-minute time penalty for missing a checkpoint. 

Unlike his two previous wins, his third victory in the 2016 edition, at what is considered to be one of the toughest cross-country rallies in the country, came amidst drama in stages 10 and 11, that ran in the night over a combined distance of more than 100 km: Santosh, who took command of the rally right from the first leg, opened up a massive lead of 53 minutes after nine stages. 

However, on the 10th stage, which was the first of the two night-stages, the Suzuki-India-supported rider failed to spot the checkpoint to get his time-card stamped because of bad visibility due to the dust kicked-up by the cars ahead of him, so was slapped with a penalty of 60 minutes for the infringement. 

But Santosh went into the final two stages motivated to finish with an overall lead of more-than nine minutes to seal victory with a time of 11 hours and 19 minutes, 28-seconds to seal victory. 

Santosh, who prepared for the gruelling rally by practicing on his #suzuki Quadsport Z400 quad bike, said: “The valuable practice time spent riding the #suzuki Quadsport Z400 stood me in good stead in the rally. In fact, I would recommend that cross-country riders should prepare themselves by spending some time riding this true-blooded #racing quad. It’s fast and it’s demanding to ride. 

“I made it difficult for myself. The time penalty for missing-out on the passage control came at the most inopportune moment. However, that’s rallying, anything can happen. I am very pleased with this win and even more with the way the #suzuki #rmx450z Rally performed in these conditions,” he added. 

For the 2016 Maruti #suzuki Desert Storm, the two-time Dakar participant rode the Rally edition of the #suzuki #rmx450z, which carried special parts from the Dakar version of the motorcycle. Amongst the changes included a carbon-fibre sub-frame - that also serves as auxiliary fuel tanks - Ohlins suspension system and bigger cooling system. 

For this rally, Jordi Grau, who runs the #suzuki Spain Team in the Dakar Rally, came to the #event to lend his technical expertise. 

Said Santosh: “The modifications that we carried-out on the bike helped us to eke-out even more performance from the machine. It also improved the handling of the bike. I could tackle the roughest sections in this rally without any problems. I am extremely thankful to #suzuki for lending their excellent support.”