Suresh Rana and co-driver Ashwin Naik in their Grand Vitara emerged as the leaders on the third day of the Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare motorsport event here on Wednesday.

Making way through the narrow and rocky terrain of Aimangala, Team Maruti Suzuki led by Rana covered the distance in 6:59:02 hours, according to a release.

Samrat Yadav and co-driver S.N. Nizami in their Maruti Gypsy slipped to second rank covering the distance in 7:00:15.

Sandeep Sharma with co-driver Karan Arya in their Maruti Gypsy covered the distance in 7:05:46 closing third in the Ultimate cars category.

Talking about this, Suresh Rana said in a release: "We have reached the lead position after three days and the joy is beyond words.

"The heavy downpour of rain made the terrain more challenging, but it didn't go against us. We took it up as a challenge and closed it with top spot while the competition is cut throat."

The top positions in the bikes category remained unchanged as T Nataraj continues to lead covering the required distance in 4:29:30 hours.

Abdul Wahid and Sanjay Kumar have maintained the second and third spots covering the distance in 4:31:26 and 4:35:57 respectively.

The rally will gradually transition to West India and reach Kolhapur in leg 4.