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, 
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.