Royal Rajasthan Rally 2018

The team of Niju Padia and co-driver Nirav Mehta won the 2018 Royal Rajasthan Rally – an event held over three days in February that forms the trio of rallying events held in the Thar desert, with the Desert Storm and the India Baja scheduled to follow later in the year. 

By Team autoX | on April 11, 2018 Follow us on Autox Google News



Photography: Aayush Mandan & Simar Singh

The team of Niju Padia and co-driver Nirav Mehta won the 2018 Royal Rajasthan Rally – an event held over three days in February that forms the trio of rallying events held in the Thar desert, with the Desert Storm and the India Baja scheduled to follow later in the year. 

The winning pair were behind the wheel of a Mitsubishi Pajero and were joined on the podium of the Rally Prep Open category by teams driving an Isuzu D-Max V-Cross. 

Much like how adventure touring motorcycles have become objects of lust by India’s bike enthusiasts, Isuzu’s very capable off-road vehicle has made the four-wheel off-road enthusiasts dip into their wallets. If not used as a competition vehicle, one is almost certain to spot a V-Cross being used as a support vehicle for rally enthusiasts. 

Narendra Singh Nirvan and co-driver Prakash M were second in the category ahead of Vinam and Raveen Jain. 

The Pro Above 1600cc category saw a variety among vehicles on the podium. P Ananth Kumar and co-driver Sagar Mallapa in a Maruti-Suzuki Vitara were the winners ahead of the Toyota Fortuner of Hero Sen, Sabatullah Khan and Vivek Vikram Singh. Team Bowfass’ Captain Himanshu Murthy and Varun Sood’s Mahindra Thar was third.
 
A familiar face in rallying filled the podium in the Pro Up to 1600cc class with Maruti-Suzuki’s trusty Gypsy in the top three spots. The team of Ruchit Jhadav and Pranjal Jain were first with Team Bowfass in second place with Jatin Verma and C Sakthivel. Manish Chaturvedi and Manish Vohra were third in this category. 

The Amateur class also saw three different vehicles on the podium with Sharad Agarwal and Japjyot Singh’s Gypsy from Team Wanderers take the top spot. Team Wanderers also filled out the remaining two spots on the podium with Sahil Khanna and Vidit Jain second in a V-Cross and Karan Malik and Manu Mansher Malik third in a Mahindra Getaway.
 
There was also a couple class in which Ritika Oberoi and Chirag Thakur in a Toyota Fortuner took the top spot followed by Khyati Mody and Siddharth Kaushik in a Maruti Gypsy fielded by Team Bowfass. Anil Abas and Simi Mathew were third in a V-Cross.

To add some spice to the opening of the event, the first stage was held at night with only waypoints provided by Raj Singh Rathore of Thar Motorsport, the organiser of the event. Given the varied levels of competition across the different classes, the total stage distances were not very high, but there was a fair degree of variation in the terrain tackled. That also included going over dune tops. However, by the time you read this we would already be done with the Desert Storm rally, where Rathore will swap his organiser’s hat for a competition-spec helmet.  

Tags: Rally 2018 Royal Rajasthan Rally 2018

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