Sardarshahr (Rajasthan), Feb 25 (IANS): Abhishek Mishra from Delhi (co-driver P.V.S. Murthy), driving a Grand Vitara, opened up a five-minute lead over former champion Suresh Rana (Parminder Kaur) at the end of Leg 1 of the 13th Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm here Wednesday.

Mishra, representing Team Speedsport, clocked three hours, seven minutes and 44 seconds for the 150 Kms long Special Stage that was run late last night.

Rana, the three times winner of the event, of Team Maruti Suzuki and also in a Grand Vitara, covered the distance in 03:12:00, while Harpreet Bawa (Ashwin Naik) of Team Speedsport was third Overall in 03:16:27, followed by Gaurav Chiripal (Nikhil Pai) in 03:20:01.

The weeklong 2,300 kms cross-country rally was flagged off in New Delhi Monday and the competitors arrived here for the first Special Stage which commenced at 8.15 Tuesday night.

While all eyes are on Rana, who is eyeing for fourth Desert Storm title in the XTreme category in his Grand Vitara, C.S. Santosh, riding a Suzuki bike, is the cynosure in the Moto-Quad class, especially after he became the first Indian to complete the World's most grueling cross-country event, the Dakar Rally, last month.

Meanwhile, Sandeep Sharma, who was the first runner-up last year, crashed out of the competition due to a technical problem with his car.

The XTreme category vehicles will now head to Bikaner for the next leg of the Desert Storm.

Provisional standings (Leg 1, XTreme):

Abhishek Mishra / PVS Murthy (Team Speedsport, Grand Vitara) 1 (03 hrs, 07mins, 44secs); Suresh Rana / Parminder Kaur (Team Maruti, Grand Vitara) 2 (03:12:00); Harpreet Bawa / Ashwin Naik (Team Speedsport, Grand Vitara) 3 (03:16:27); Gaurav Chiripal / Nikhil Pai (Grand Vitara) 4 (03:20:01); Himanshu Arora / Gurkirat Singh Mann (Team Tuskers, Maruti Gypsy) 5 (03:26:40).