Sports Reporter
JAMMU: Karthick Maruthi, driving Vitara Brezza, won the much coveted Maruti Suzuki National Super League Championship 2016 with the holding of sixth and final round of the much awaited ‘Rally of Himachal’. Sachin Singh, also driving Vitara Brezza, and Jagmeet Gill, driving Maruti Suzuki S-Cross, won the second and third place respectively, with M.Musthafa being declared as the best navigator of the championship.
The Maruti Suzuki National Super League Championship, introduced to encourage rallying among the amateur motorsports enthusiasts, consisted of six TSD format rallies. The TSD rallies gave the rallyists a chance to chase their passion in one of the most epic rallying experiences, running across length and breadth of the country.
Spread across the year, Maruti rally began from lush hills of Uttarakhand, revving its way to Goa in the Deccan Rally, creating ripples of enthusiasm in the most scenic Backwaters Rally, exploring some of the most pristine and unexplored landscapes in Mughal Rally, making its way to the land of rising Sun in the Rally of Arunachal and finally bringing the rally home in the silver snow covered mountains of Shimla in Rally of Himachal.
Speaking at the occasion, Vinay Pant, AVP Marketing, Maruti Suzuki said, “Maruti Suzuki has always pioneered in the field of motorsports through the most sought after rallies in the country with Raid de Himalaya, Desert Storm and Dakshin Dare. But we realised that there is a vast untapped potential to expand the motorsports culture in India through TSD rallies as it gave the amateur rallying enthusiasts an opportunity to participate and hone their skills. TSD rallies are the safest form of rallying and do not require any modification or customisation in the cars. As a result we saw constant increase in participation. It’s especially encouraging to see more and more women participate in each rally. My heartiest congratulations to Karthick Maruthias he takes the Vitara Brezza home.”
The Maruti Suzuki National Super League Championship 2016 was open to all four-wheeler makers. There is no need for any customisation in cars to participate in the championship. The rally follows Time-Speed-Distance (TSD) format which is a highly recommended rallying format that tests the skills of driver and the navigator.
