Manali man Suresh Rana ended the first day's action as the leader of the 17th edition of the Raid de Himalaya motorsports rally here on Monday.
Sunday's route from Shimla to Manali included three competitive stages and passed through Kufri, Theog, Matiyana, Dalog, Chamola, Luhri, Behna, Shuad, Khanag, Banjar, Aut and Kullu, covering a total distance of 310 kilometre and a competitive distance of 74.34 km.
In his Grand Vitara, nine-time champion Rana negotiated the challenging tracks to lead the pack in the Xtreme category (4x4) in an hour, 45 minutes and 48 seconds followed closely by Raj Singh Rathore (1:47:12) in second place.
Harpreet Bawa, meanwhile, finished third in an hour and 48 minutes.
In the Adventure category, Jagmeet Gill (co-driver Chandana Sen) finished first with a penalty time of one minute and 45 seconds followed by Rajesh Chalana (Yogesh Gupta).
Among the bikers, Bengaluru's Arvind K.P., riding his TVS RTR 450, ended Day 1 as the leader with an Overall time score of one hour, 39 minutes and 10 seconds followed by Natraj R. (1:40:30) and Ashish Saurabh (1:41:22).
The rally will on Monday move from Manali to Dalhousie to cover another 383km in the second leg of the Raid, which is title sponsored by Maruti Suzuki.
The S Cross model also made its debut in rallying to finish second in Adventure on Sunday.
The six-day event will cover a total distance of 1,921km and a competitive distance of 611km, travelling through some of the most picturesque and peaceful locations in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
Day 1 results:
Xtreme (four wheelers): 1. Suresh Rana 1:45:48, 2. Raj Singh Rathore 1:47:12, 3. Harpreet Bawa 1:48:00.
Xtreme (two wheelers): 1. Arvind K.P. 1:39:10, 2. Natraj R. 1:40:30, 3. Ashish Saurabh Moudhghil 1:41:22.
Adventure trial: 1. Jagmeet Gill (Chandana Sen) 1 minute 45 seconds, Rajesh Chalana (Yogesh Gupta) 1:46, 3. Subir Roy & Nirav Mehta 1:51.
