The race for the champion’s position in Biswa Bangla JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 6 got hotter with the duo of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta lagging behind defending champions Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa with just one penalty point when the third leg of the rally was flagged off from the periphery of the world-famous Chitwan National Forest in Nepal on Sunday (February 25) morning. While the Ali-Musthafa team picked up 31 penalty points on Day 2 of the rally on Saturday to bring their total score to 85 penalty points, the Roy-Mehta team, champions of Desert Storm, picked up just 24 penalty points to notch up a total score of 86 penalty points, thus very closely narrowing their difference with the defending champions.
At the end of Day 2 of the rally, the only tri-nation TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) from India, the team of Captain Vijaykumar Sharma and Chandan Sen followed at a distant third with 241 penalty points, while the team of Nikunj Toshniwal and Prasenjit Roy scored a total of 367 penalty points, followed closely by Anand Mehta and Sabatullah Khan with 375 penalty points. In the local category, Gagan Sethi and Dhiraj Arrora maintained their lead with a total score of 700 penalty points, followed at a distant second position by Govind Dalmia and Anand Agarwala with 3583 penalty points. The team of Pranjal More and Milindo Paul followed them closely with a total of 3630 penalty points.
The third leg of the rally was flagged off by president of the Nepal Automotive Sports Association, Dasrath Nisal, at 7.30 am Nepal time. The competitors drove through the Lothar river embankment and then down the East-West Highway to enter the Itahari forest for another competitive section that took them over dirt tracks cutting through forests and then a dry riverbed. They then entered India through Kakarvitta and drove through Gajaldoba, which is being promoted by the West Bengal government as a major tourist attraction. The rallyists then crossed Lataguri to reach Murti, located beside the Gorumara National Park, home to rhinos and the white-headed bison.
Sunday’s drive took the rallyists over 609 kilometers and through verdant forests and tea gardens. It was a thrilling drive through many tourist spots.
Power Drive 