2018 Dakshin Dare: Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif claim overall victory
Gaurav Gill and Musa Sherif of Team Mahindra Adventure won the 2018 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare. Their victory comes after a six-year hiatus from cross-country rally raids, during which time Gill has managed to win three APRC titles, and is now competing as a non-priority entry in the World Rally Championship's WRC2 category.
Gill and Sherif won all five legs of the rally, claiming a total of 15 stage wins along the way to their second Dakshin Dare victory, which they managed with a 15 minute advantage. It was also the duo's 50th rally together, and their 31st victory.
"Even after all these years, I retain the same enthusiasm for rallying. I am motivated enough to give 200 per cent each time I drive," Gill said, while accepting the team championship trophy. "We had a very good team and a great strategy that helped us last five tough days," he added.
Overall second place in the rally went to Philippos Matthai and co-driver PVS Moorthy, also of Team Mahindra Adventure. While Maruti Suzuki's Samrat Yadav and Karan Aukta finished third overall. Sandeep Sharma and Suresh Rana finished fourth and fifth.
In the motorcycle category, Vishwas S.D claimed the overall win, after overnight leader Yuva Kumar's motorcycle broke down with just 15km left in the rally.
2018 Dakshin Dare results
Cars:
1. Gaurav Gill/ Musa Sharif 6:57:44
2. Phillippos Matthai / PVS Moorthy - 7:12:00
3. Samrat Yadav / Karan Aukta - 7:21:10
Bikes:
1. Vishwas S.D
2. Vinay Prasad
3. Yuva Kumar
MSDD 2018 Car Open:
1. Pramod Vig / Prakash M
2. Raghunandan / Sakthevel
3. Santhosh / Naga
MSDD 2018 SUV Open:
1. Vinay Kumar / Ravi Kumar
MSDD 2018 Day Car OE:
1. Srikanth / Raghuraman
2. Nanditha Reddy / Sanjana Reddy
MSDD 2018 Day SUV OE:
1. Philip Baklin / David Sharon
2. Deepak Sachdeva / Japjyot Singh
MSDD 2018 Day Couple:
1. Captain Abhilasha Singh / Shailendra Singh
2. Anil Abbas / Sini Anil
3. Snighda Kemkar / Balachandra
MSDD 2018 Day All Ladies:
1. Geetha Wadhwa / Pratibha
2. Ashima Duggal / Amrita Shergil
3. Usha Jain / Harshitha J Sonia
