Lankan duo impress at Dakshin Dare Cross-country Rally
Driver Shafraz Junaid and Co-Driver Akhry Ameer navigate a speed corner in the super special stage
Sri Lankan Rally driver Shafraz Junaid and co-driver Akhry Ameer fought stiff competition from superior factory teams of Suzuki and Mahindra, in their own Rally cab competition, being placed 2nd Runners-Up in the T2-2WD above 1851cc category, at the Maruti-Suzuki Dakshin Dare Cross-country Motor Rally concluded in Goa last weekend.
The duo also progressed from an initial ranking of 14th place at the 1st stage, with technical issues, to 9th overall upon conclusion of the grueling 5-day event.
The 10th Maruti-Suzuki Dakshin Dare Rally covering a distance of 2,500+ km, including 544-odd km of Special stages and nearly 2,000 km of timed transport stages for over 5 days, from Bangalore to Goa, tested the perseverance of the only international entry to run their race-prepared Datsun-Nissan D21 cab shipped from Sri Lanka, with the assistance of HTL Logistics.
“The 200 km of transport stage to the competitive stage was smooth, but on our 1st Special Stage run we had diesel starvation issues, possibly due to its composition, which might have been different from what we run back home. Sorting this and reaching the end of stage and service, we lost valuable time to identify and rectify the issue. This caused a significant setback, but we managed to progress steadily from there”, explained Shafraz Junaid, of the start of the Rally.
These local participants have been forging their interest and making waves for Sri Lanka with the assistance of Maxxis Sri Lanka, having previously achieved 3rd overall in the Asia Pacific Coffee Day Rally last year.
“This year we thought of testing the limits of our vehicle. This was not only at the Rally, but coordinating logistics to get there. We are grateful to our sponsors SriLankan Airlines, HTL and Maxxis for their support in this regard,” added Akhry Ameer, co-driver.
Driver Shafraz Junaid (L) and Co-Driver Akhry Ameer (R) pose for a victory photograph with their Nissan D21 Race Cab
Running against Asian Rally champion Gaurav Gill who led the pack comfortably, with the rest of the advanced Team Mahindra, followed by the Suzuki-Maruti vehicles, the Lankans also had to manage inter-cooler and suspension damages, to continuously improve their times through the various stages. The leaderboard contenders also had their share of tire punctures and mechanical issues mid-way of the Rally, which saw the individual survival of the fittest moving up the rankings.
“The most exciting stage was when our wipers failed in thick fog and we had to manually operate our wipers with my shoelaces. The 2nd run of this stage was cancelled, as the majority of the drivers requested to opt out on account of safety, if not, we could have possibly aimed for 7th place”, added the co-driver.
The duo paid to tribute to their sponsors and support partners Pro Mech Autoworks, Drego 4×4 Racing (India) for their various roles in making their participation successful. The local and Indian administrative bodies of the sport, Ceylon Motor Sports Club, Sri Lanka Automobile Racing, Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India assisted with aspects of homologation and licensing.
They are now examining their options for the next challenge, the Raid De Himalaya in the Himalayan mountain ranges, the highest elevation Rally in the world, due to the limited time in which to ship additional spares and prepare their cab in India.
A total of nearly 70 competitors took part at the Dakshin Dare in the various categories of bikes, TSD (Time, Speed, Duration) and Ultimate Cars, throughout the 5-day event held from 2ndto 7thSeptember 2018.