Darjeeling, 28th feb 2018:Last year’s champions Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa successfully defended their title at the Biswa Bangla JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 6 here on Wednesday.
They beat the hot-in-pursuit Kolkata duo of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta by a narrow five penalty points advantage to bring the rally to an exciting finish. The five-day event, India’s only Tri-Nation TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rally, took 24 teams across Nepal, North Bengal and Bhutan over 1,615 tough kilometers before ending in Darjeeling.
The competition remained close right from day 1 with the defending champions picking up 54 penalty points, just eight penalty points less than the Subir-Nirav duo. In the next leg, Subir and Nirav performed slightly better by getting 54 penalty points, just two less that Ajgar and Musthafa.
In the last leg, the difference in scores was even closer, with the Ajgar-Musthafa team picking up 20 penalty points, just one more than Subir and Nirav. Two legs of the rally -- Leg 2 and 3 -- in Nepal were cancelled due to technical problems arising out of rallying through different time zones.
In the Open category too, the Aaj Tak team of Gagan Sethi and Dhiraj Arrora maintained their lead right from the first day and emerged champions with a cumulative score of 1,493 penalty points. The team of Govind Dalmia and Anand Agarwala from Siliguri finished a distant second with a cumulative score of 5,849 penalty points.
Pranjal More and Milindo Paul, also from Siliguri, finished in third position at the end of the rally with 7,006 penalty points. In the SUV category, Amit Dhanotia and Anuragh Agarwala emerged winners with 9,461 penalty points, while in the ‘Above 1300 cc category’, Pranai Rai and Nanki Kharki from Kalimpong took the title with 11,124 penalty points. Another Kalimpong team, comprising of Bimal Kumar Poudel and Rajendra Gaire were the winners in the Under 1,300 cc category with 64,064 penalty points.
The final leg of the rally was flagged off from the Tashi Namgay Grand Hotel above Phuentsholing in Bhutan on Tuesday morning. The teams crossed into India at Jaigaon and drove past the Jaldapara National Park, which is home to the Royal Bengal Tigers, one-horned rhinos, bisons and elephants, the Binnaguri army cantonment and to Murti, from where the competitive zone started.
The rally then hit the hills and passed through Samsing, Gorubathan, Lava and the charming hill station of Kalimpong where they had lunch and then continued through the steep, tea bush-covered hills of Peshoke to reach Darjeeling in the evening through Jorebungalow. They covered nearly 250 kilometers, of which the competitive section covered 180 kilometers.
The scenic and iconic Mall in Darjeeling provided the perfect setting for the prize distribution ceremony. The Himalayan Drive 6 champions Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa received a cheque worth Rs 1 lakh; the runners-up got Rs 50,000 while the third-placed Rs 25,000.
About JK Tyre Motorsport:
JK Tyre has always been closely associated with the world of sports. Almost three decades back the company laid down a long term and sustained approach to promote Motorsport. Participating in this form of the sport has helped the company in continuously updating its products to meet the challenges of gruelling Indian conditions. The sport at that time in India was perceived for elite but JK Tyre took upon itself to package and redesign the sport to suit the masses. The company not only made the sport affordable but also equivalent to International operating standards. JK Tyre’s foray into Motorsport was a well thought out strategic decision to not only use and develop this virgin branding platform but also to realize the dreams of making India a force in the field of motor sport.
In 2011, the company acquired the Formula BMW Series and rechristened it as the JK Racing Asia Series (JKRAS). With this acquisition, JK Tyre created history in Indian Motorsport by becoming the first Indian company to acquire an FIA accredited series. By taking over the series, JK Tyre promises to utilize it as a platform to encourage and support the world’s best racing drivers and promote India as one of Asia’s motorsport capitals.
Thus, JK Tyre has conquered two steps in the motorsport program where the new racing aspirants first establish themselves in India, then graduate to Asian level i.e. to Formula BMW, which is now JKRAS and then they move to higher levels of racing. JK Tyre now stands closer to achieving its mission of bringing world-class motorsport to the Indian masses. The Racing and Karting programme by JK Tyre has been the breeding ground for the country’s motorsport talents like NarainKarthikeyan, Armaan Ebrahim, Karun Chandhok, Aditya Patel and other emerging talent.
Another pioneering initiative was the launch of the Truck Racing Championship in India in partnership with Tata Motors. The company developed & designed “JetRacing”-the new generation truck racing tyres especially for this application. With this, JK Tyre became the first tyre company to produce truck racing tyres in India. The combination of the Prima trucks fitted with Jet Racing received an overwhelming response from participants and has definitely brought in a revolution in the Indian racing scenario.
For further information, please contact:
Khushboo Gupta
khushboo.gupta@jkmail.com
Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Journalist.samikshan@gmail.com
Mob: +91 8377079442
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