Puneite proves his mettle at Thai rally

The veteran duo of Sanjay Takale and Musa Sheriff of Team India proved their mettle when they won their first international podium finish in the recently concluded SIAM BAJA Queens Cup-2011, which is the Thailand International Car Rally, conducted at Chachangao city in Prachin Buri province of central Thailand.

Puneite proves his mettle at Thai rally

Sanjay Takale wins his first international podium finish with partner Musa Sheriff

The veteran duo of Sanjay Takale and Musa Sheriff of Team India proved their mettle when they won their first international podium finish in the recently concluded SIAM BAJA Queens Cup-2011, which is the Thailand International Car Rally, conducted at Chachangao city in Prachin Buri province of central Thailand.

On the winning side: Sanjay Takale and Musa Sheriff at the Thailand
International Car Rally 2011

This was their first major win at the international level, continuing on their last year's form. Fresh from their win of Desert Storm 2011 in India, Sanjay was full of confidence and raring to go in the event. Top teams from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Lao, Hong Kong and India participated in the rally held in March that covered a distance of nearly 600 km.

"We were placed ninth during the first stage, which was from Bang Ang Tabaek to Suan Sak Thong, a distance of 9.4 km. It was over fertile plain land of green paddy fields. Midway through the stage, on a sharp right-hander where we were carrying a speed of more than 120 km per hour on a slippery gravel surface, we saw our competitor Akapong Dasee and co-driver Sunya Benyenngam of Team Bridgestone ELF Isuzu of Thailand had toppled their car and were stuck inside the car, which was on fire. We had to brake hard to avoid colliding with the car and just in the nick of time we managed to stop. Realising the sensitivity of the situation, we got them out of their car and evacuated the stuck duo of Thailand," Sanjay said.

Seat belt cutters were used to get the duo out from the car on fire. During the rescue, Sanjay suffered minor burns on his left shoulder and also burnt his rally suit. In this stage they couldn't finish as they had lost more than one hour and were out of MPL (Maximum Permitted Lateness) for the stage. But the organisers and all the rally competitors thanked them and sang their laurels for their brave effort and making it a special case, they were given a scratch time, that is the lowest time taken by the previous competitor, and were allowed to continue the subsequent stages, which they won.

As a result of this performance, Sanjay and Musa are now sponsored by Isuzu Thailand for the remaining three round of Queens Cup. Sanjay is also sponsored in India by Tata Motors Ltd for rallies in India, Abs Fitness Club (Abhimanyu Sable), Dreams Corporation (Ramesh Mehta).