Suresh Rana and co-driver Parminder Thakur win the 2016 Dakshin Dare

Five days after tussling with mud, slush, rocks and gravel, the 2016 Dakshin Dare has come to its conclusion in Goa. Having set out from Bengaluru on August 1, 2016, this year’s Dare saw the teams traverse a total of about 2,200km through the scenic roads of Karnataka and Goa. We have the names of the victors for 2016, but here’s a recap of what happened over the last week.

On Monday, August 1, the teams started their first major leg – a transport run from Bengaluru to Coorg. The Endurance racers completed their run for the day successfully. However, the demise of Rakesh Siddaramaiah, son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, which could have potentially caused unrest in the city of Mysore(part of the route from Bengaluru to Coorg), resulted in the legs for the Ultimate category getting cancelled.

Action, however, resumed on Day 2, where the three legs within Coorg, spanning a total of 63km, saw Suresh Rana and Parminder Thakur speed ahead to top-spot in the Ultimate Car category in their Suzuki Vitara, a lead that the duo maintained throughout the Dare. They were followed by Amanpreet Ahluwalia with co-driver Karan Arya, and defending champ, Sandeep Sharma and co-driver Karan Arya in their Maruti Gypsies. In the Ultimate Bike category, Abdul Wahid, T Natraj and Sanjay Kumar, all astride the TVS Apache 450 FX stood first second and third.
The next set of legs had the teams travel a good 320km from Coorg to Shivamogga, the cultural capital of Karnataka, which would host the next two days of the Dare.