Maruti Suzuki Motorsport’s performance on Day 4 of the 2018 Dakshin Dare Rally

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Samrat Yadav takes the baton from Sandeep Sharma by placing himself in the third position after completing the three stages of leg four.

The 2018 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare rally moved to Maharashtra this time for its penultimate leg, spanning over three special stages (SS12, SS13 and SS14), each of which ran a distance of around 22km. In total, the drivers had to cover a stage distance of about 66km on day four. Besides a new venue, leg four was also different from its predecessors in terms of the stage surface. While all the previous stages began and continued mostly on gravel surfaces, this one began on a long stretch of tarmac in the town of Madawale.

Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsports, also, continued with their strong attack. This time, however, the limelight was stolen by Samrat Yadav who managed to secure the third position, ahead of his teammate Sandeep Sharma, who won a close-fought battle with Amittrajit Ghosh to finish fourth. Starting the day from the fifth position, the Yadav-Aukta duo posted some of the fastest timings in their Maruti Suzuki S-Cross. Their 00:14:57 in the day’s first Special Stage (SS12) was even faster than Mahindra’s Gaurav Gill’s timing of 00:15:21, making it thrice in a row that Samrat had bested Gill, after doing so in the last two Special Stages of Wednesday as well.

With just the final leg left to go, Team Maruti Suzuki Motorsport is giving no respite to its opponents by improving and strengthening its performance with each passing day.