Mahindra's Super XUV500 stands first in the 12th Desert Storm Rally

The Indian car manufacturer, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), stormed the 12th edition of the Desert Storm Rally with its Super XUV500 grabbing first position in the popular event. Mahindra Adventure’s Super XUV500 completed the adventurous drive in 12hrs 47min and 42sec, beating Team Thunderbolt, who placed themselves second, by over 20 minutes.

Mahindra's Super XUV500 was driven by Sunny Sidhu, and was co-piloted by PVS Murthy who were successful in beating Sandeep Sharma and Varun Davessar of Team Thunderbolt. While the men proved their mettle in the race, women too weren’t far behind. The women crew was in-charge of two Scorpio's participating in the Xplore and Ndure category.

Commenting on the success of the XUV500, Vivek Nayer, Chief Marketing Officer, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, says, “After annihilating the competition at the INSUVRC, with this spectacular win at the Desert Storm 2014, the cheetah inspired Super XUV500 has unmistakably marked its territory in the extreme rally-raid format in India. The Super XUV500 is on a winning streak, and will continue to create history and make & break records in times to come. We dedicate this unprecedented win to millions of Mahindra customers & fans across the nation."

The Desert Storm is considered as one of the toughest and most popular rallies of the Indian sub-continent, given the conditions, tough stages and spectacular terrain ranging from desert stretches and vast salt flats to dirt tracks. This year the rally route ran for over 3000km across locations such as Sadarseher, Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Jaipur. In all 55 teams participated in the Xtreme category, 30 in Ndure and 20 teams in the Xplore category.  

The results of the rally are as follows:

Sunny Sidhu / PVS Murthy (Mahindra Adventure) Position 1 (12:47:42)

Sandeep Sharma / Varun Davessar (Team Thunderbolt) Position 2 (13:08:20)

Amarjeet Pal Buwal / Nakul Mendiratta (Team Thunderbolt) Position 3 (13:13.34)

Lohitt Urs / K Kumar (Mahindra Adventure) Position 4 (13:18:35)