Chandigarh's Sidhu, with his navigator P V Srinivasa Murthy, enjoyed a trouble-free run to lead the Xtreme category, followed by Delhi's Sandeep Sharma, driving a Maruti Gypsy.
Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D'Souza, driving a Grand Vitara for Team Maruti Suzuki, were leading Rally Ndure.
At the second place were Somdeb Chanda and navigator Nirav Mehta, driving a Maruti Gypsy, while Pranab Bhaduri with navigator Dibendu Nayak were at the third position.
In the two-wheeler category, Bangalore's CS Santosh continued to lead, followed by Helmut Frauwallner of Austria and Trivikram Singh Rathore.
The Desert Storm, which has around 250 participants this year traverses 2200 kms through the Sardarshahar, Bikaner, Chattargarh, Jaisalmer, Sam, Pokharn, Gajnaur, Kagsar, Lakshmangarh, and finally culminate at Jaipur on March 1.