Sunny shines brightest

As the evening sun beat down severely on the now-sandy and now-rocky tracks in the villages of Bachasar and Desnoke, some 30-odd km from here, the lone Gypsy with Sunny Sidhu at the wheels came to a screeching halt at the finishing point on Sunday.

The hero of the second Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm rally gave fulsome praise to his machine Gypsy and co-driver Kamal Sidhu for his victory. Indeed, it was the sturdy machine and equally sturdier Kamal, who withstood the four-day ordeals on the dusty and treacherous desert tracks to send him to the podium finish.

It was sweet revenge for the Chandigarh pro. For, he lost the title in the inaugural edition last year when the machine failed him. Delhi professional Anil Wadia had claimed the title then. But Sunny was not taking any chances with this machine this time around. He took over a month before the rally and dismantled each and every part of his Gypsy and virtually rebuilt it for this arduous rally.