By Sachin Murdeshwar

Mumbai : The National finals of the second edition of Red Bull Desert Wings University Challenge, a thrilling competition for students who are motorsport enthusiasts, took place on 30th November at Jai Hind College, Mumbai. At this highly competitive, remote controlled, ‘mini Dakar’ race with 8 finalists, Hasnain Sheikh from Bengaluru set the fastest time – 7.38 secs- on a specially created track and emerged as the winner of the National Finals of Red Bull Desert Wings Univeristy Challenge 2018

The national winner will be flown on an all-expense paid trip to Arequipa, Peru to compete in the World Finals from 10th-13th January 2019. The national winner will also get the opportunity to witness the toughest rally raid, the Dakar Rally in Peru. After winning the National Finals of the inaugural edition of Red Bull Desert Wings last year, Rohit Mahalikudi from M.S. Ramaiah Institute Of Technology, Bengaluru was one of the students flown to the actual Dakar Rally in Pisco Peru for the final RC car race and an once-in-a-lifetime experience with actual Dakar teams. Rohith emerged as the runner-up global champion of Red Bull Desert Wings University Challenge.

Any university student above 18 years of age and holding a valid passport is eligible to participate.

Hyderabad Qualifiers

Date: 27th and 28th July 2018

Venue: Biker’s Company Hyderabad

Winner: Ashutosh Andhari won the Hyderabad Qualifier (fastest lap time – 16.183 seconds)

Chennai Qualifiers

Date: 7th September 2018

Venue: SRM University, Chennai

Winner: Bala Giridhar S won the Chennai Qualifier (fastest lap time – 10.34 seconds)

Bengaluru Qualifiers

Date: 22nd October 2018

Venue: RIT Quadrangle, Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bengaluru

Winner:  Hasnain Sheikh won the Bengaluru qualifier (fastest lap time – 10.22 seconds)

Pune Qualifiers

Date: 4th November 2018

Venue: IIESR College, Pune

Winner:  Swarnavo Basu won the Pune qualifier (fastest lap time – 12.08 seconds)

Jaipur Qualifiers

Date: 13th November 2018

Venue: Poornima College

Winner: Vitthal Patidar won the Jaipur qualifiers (fastest lap time – 11.620 seconds)

Delhi Qualifiers

Date: 14th November 2018

Venue: Delhi Technological University

Winner: Rohit Roy won the Delhi qualifiers (fastest lap time – 10.36 seconds)

Guwahati Qualifiers

Date: 19th November 2018

Venue: Royal Global University

Winner: Lukram Abhinaba Singh won the Guwahati Qualifiers (fastest lap time – 11.67 seconds)

Kolkata Qualifiers

Date: 21st November 2018

Venue: ILEAD Kolkata

Winner: Aadil Aftab won the Kolkata Qualifiers (fastest lap time – 10.437 seconds)

Mumbai Qualifiers

Date: 30th November 2018

Venue: Jai Hind College, Mumbai

Winner: Vansh Desai (fastest lap time – 10.53 seconds) and Ayush Divecha (fastest lap time – 11.55 seconds) won the Mumbai Qualifiers

National Finals:

Date: 30th November 2018

Venue: Jai Hind College, Mumbai

Winner: Hasnain Sheikh from Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore (fastest lap time – 7.38 seconds)

The competition globally has around 5000 participants across 4 continents, 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, India, Peru, Slovenia, South Africa & Spain) and 50 different cities.

The World Final will take place in Arequipa, Peru from the 10th-13th of January 2019, where the country winners will have a real Dakar experience, alongside competing for the title of Red Bull Desert Wings University Challenge Global Winner. For their final challenge, they will compete side-by-side against each other, racing the cars around a bespoke track, custom built in the Peruvian desert sand and designed to push both their cars and skills to the limit. The real Dakar experience will involve meeting the world-famous Dakar pilots, watching racing from the sand dunes, sleeping desert style under the stars and lots more activities to enjoy the Peruvian culture.

This year, setting the fastest lap is not the only way to win a trip to the Dakar! The Content Creator Challenge is where students globally are challenged to film a cool Instagram story of the action at their local event/s (maximum 3 full story entries) where they must use #redbull #desertwings somewhere in the story and save the full story to their highlights on Instagram. Entries close December 10th 2018. The first place winner globally of the Content Creator Challenge wins a chance to visit the world final in Peru while 10 global runner-ups win the Carrera radio-controlled car.