12th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm flagged off

Maruti Suzuki's challenging motorsport rally, the 12th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm, was today flagged off amid excitement here.
Around 250 motorsports enthusiasts will traverse over 2200 kms over six days.
Often called Mini Dakar, the competition is fraught with perils and undulating terrains mixing shifting sand dunes, dried up lake beds and routes that can be big challenge for best navigators in the world.
This year's Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm will run in two different routes, one for the Xtreme and Ndure, and two for the Xplore category.
Besides an amalgamation of adventure, excitement and myriad risks, the mix of high speed off-roading and TSD (Time Speed Distance) format offers higher adrenaline rush and a smoother conduct.

There are 55 teams in Xtreme Category, 30 in Ndure, 20 teams in Xplore and 35 Bikers during the flag off.

Manohar Bhat, VP Marketing Maruti Suzuki India, said, "It is a matter of pride to see the Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rapidly grow in size and stature over the years. It is heartening that this year we have the largest participation for this annual flagship motor sport event of the country.
"The rally Desert Storm is not just about speed and ability to cover a distance in shortest time which is used in Extreme format but also about precision calculative driving which is used in Endure and Explore Format. It is an ultimate test of the man and the machine."

After the flag off from Delhi the rally will move to Sardarshahar covering almost 300 Km of transport stage. The first leg of the rally will kick-off in the midnight and move to Bikaner, Chattargarh, Jaisalmer, Sam, Pokharn, Gajnaur, Kagsar, Lakshmangarh, and finally culminate in Jaipur on March 1.