Dakshin Dare Rally: Ahluwalia, Nataraj lead on a day of crashes

Delhi-based Amanpreet Ahluwalia and his co-driver from Coimbatore Venu Ramesh, in a Maruti Gypsy, comfortably nursed their overnight lead to head the Overall classifications in the Extreme category at the end of Leg-3 of the 5th Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare Rally here Wednesday amid a series of crashes.

Pre-event favourite and eight-times Raid de Himalaya champion Suresh Rana (Parminder Thakur), driving a Grand Vitara, remained in second spot some four minutes behind Ahluwalia while Bangalore's Pramod Raman (Vinod BM) in a Maruti Esteem moved into third position after Sanjay Agarwal (E Shivaprakash) retired when their Gypsy slammed into a culvert in the day's first Stage.

Two other four-wheeler competitors also retired. Shahid Khan (Dhananjaya) rolled his Gypsy about 100 metres from the flying finish at the end of the second loop of second Stage while Rajiv Sally (Faruk Patel), rammed his Gypsy into a tree stump in the very first Stage of the day.

In the two-wheeler class, overnight leader and last year's winner Nataraj Rajanna of TVS Racing maintained his position while his team-mate Pramod Joshua suffered a thigh-bone fracture following a crash.

Joshua's unfortunate exit saw Saratha (Hero Honda Karizma) moving to second spot, but 17 minutes adrift of Nataraj, while Akshay (TVS Apache) was third in Overall classifications.

The Stages were run on the outskirts of Ooty through the scenic tea estates and in balmy weather. One of the three original physical Stages was cancelled due to slushy terrain following rains the past couple of days.

The remaining two Legs of the five-day event will be run on the outskirts of Coimbatore before the competitors return to Bangalore where the Rally concludes.

Provisional Classification (after Leg-3, Extreme):

Four-wheelers (Overall): Amanpreet Ahluwalia / Venu Ramesh (Maruti Gypsy) 1 (3hr, 05mins, 58secs); Suresh Rana / Parminder Thakur (Grand Vitara) 2 (03:09:53); Imran Khan / Gagan Vijay (Maruti Esteem) 3 (03:57:56).

Two-wheelers (Overall): Nataraj Rajanna (TVS Racing, Apache) 1 (03:30:03); Saratha (Hero Honda Karizma) 2 (03:47:05); Akshay (TVS Apache) 3 (04:03:33).

Group B-260cc: Nataraj Rajanna 1; Saratha 2; Mohit Veram (KTM Duke) 3 (04:11:09).

Group B-165cc: Akshay 1; Raja (TVS Apache) 2 (04:10:08); Rakesh (TVS Suzuki) 3 (04:11:21).