2017 Dakshin Dare: Rana seizes lead as Nataraj in firm control

After a stunning performance in the opening couple of days, Samrat Yadav loses the lead of the Ultimate Cars category to Suresh Rana in Leg 3 of the 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare.

Defending champion Rana had been hounding the young Samrat before the Gypsy driver made a big driver error during the day’s second loop. Samrat came in too hot and nearly toppled his Gypsy. However he was able to get the car to land back on its four wheels, running off course in the process and losing crucial time.

Thus, Rana currently enjoys a lead of 1 minute 13 seconds over Samrat. The fight for the win now lies with both of these gentlemen as Sandeep Sharma is almost seven minutes behind Rana in third, with Gaurav Chiripal and Harvinder Singh Bhola being 24 and 28 minutes behind the leader in fourth and fifth respectively.

TVS Racing’s R Nataraj has taken a sizeable lead of nearly 2 minutes over teammate Abdul Wahid Tanveer. Early leader Sanjay Kumar is a further five minutes off Nataraj. Rajendra RE and Srinivasa hold on to finish in the top five.

With persistent rains during the liaison stage as well as overnight, leg four will mark the first timed section of the rally in the state of Maharastra. The initial 5km of the timed section has been cut short due to bad weather, as participants will head to Kolhapur for the end of leg four.