Ahluwalia, Nataraj in command in Dakshin Dare Rally

Defending champions Amanpreet Ahluwalia in a Gypsy and Nataraj Rajanna took early leads among four-wheelers and bikes, respectively, at the end of Leg 1 of the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Rally, here Tuesday.

The vehicles were flagged off early Tuesday from Bangalore and arrived here in the evening for the night halt before proceeding on Leg 2 Wednesday morning to Hospet. The five-day event will finish in Goa Saturday after covering some 2,000 km.

En route, the competitors battled intermittent showers while doing two loops of one of the two scheduled Special Stages. The second stage was cancelled due to oncoming traffic.

Ahluwalia (co-driver Sudeep) led Sandeep Sharma (Varun Davessar) by just seven seconds to set the stage for a battle royale over the next four days before finishing in Goa Saturday.

In the third spot was Dhruva (Roopesh), some 21 seconds adrift while one of the pre-event favourites Suresh Rana (Parminder Thakur), who had some problems with his Maruti Gypsy, was in sixth, trailing Ahluwalia by over a minute.

Nataraj led Mohit Verma by over a minute. Pramod Joshua was in third, just four seconds behind Verma and trio appeared set to dominate the two-wheeler section.

Provisional classification (after Leg 1):

Extreme (4-wheelers): Amanpreet Ahluwalia / Sudeep (Maruti Gypsy) 1 (30mins, 35secs); Sandeep Sharma / Varun Davessar (Gypsy) 2 (30:42); Dhruva / Roopesh (Gypsy) 3 (31:03).

Two-Wheelers: Nataraj Rajanna 1 (30:56); Mohit Verma 2 (32:18); Pramod Joshua 3 (32:22).