~ Himalayan Drive 8 (HD8), which was the Grand Finale of INRRC 2021 started from Siliguri on March 24 and culminated in Darjeeling in the evening of March 26 ~
~ The INRRC Ladies Cup was lifted by the Pune team of Sheena Sabharwal (driver) and Trupti Gupta (navigator) ~
After three days of intense battle which tested the mettle of humans and machines, the team of Sk Ajgar Ali & Md. Musthafa were crowned champions of Indian National Regulatory Run Championship (INRRC) 2021. The duo of Sk. Aniruddha and Raj Kumar Mundra finished second, while the driver-navigator team of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta took the final step of the podium.
The INRRC Ladies Cup was lifted by the Pune team of Sheena Sabharwal (driver) and Trupti Gupta (navigator) while the Gurgaon-Mumbai team of Jasmeet Kaur & Jyothi Iyengar came second. The third position in this category went to the mother-daughter team of Nilasha and Ipsita Das from Kolkata.
An array of dignitaries–the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Sukhna-headquartered 33 Corps, Lieutenant General Tarun Kumar Aich and his wife Saswati Aich, 123 Mountain Brigade Commander Vikas Batra and his wife Pallavi Batra, former Darjeeling MLA Amar Singh Rai, Darjeeling Municipality chairman Ritesh Portel and JK Tyre & Industries Head of Training Ajoy Shah–gave away the coveted trophies to the winners.
Apart from the three winners of the INRRC 2021, trophies were also awarded to three winners of the INRRC Adventure category, Himalayan Drive 8 Ladies Cup and the winners of the six zonal qualifying rounds.
The first prize in the INRRC Adventure category was bagged by Jit Mitra & K.Dinky Varghese while the second prize went to the team of Abhijit Singh & Ibrahim Ali Shaikh. The third position was bagged by Nishan Choudhury & Chandrasish Roy.
Apart from these categories, the organisers–JustSportz Pvt Ltd–had instituted a trophy for the ‘local category’. This trophy went to the team comprising Pranjal More (driver) and Milindo Paul (navigator).
Lt Gen Aich, while complimenting the organisers of the rally, said he felt inspired by the spirit of adventure and daring displayed by the competitors. Amar Singh Rai, who is also the vice-chairman of the Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority, spoke about the importance of promoting motorsports which boosts the region’s tourism potential. Darjeeling municipality chief, Ritesh Portel, promised all help to future editions of Himalayan Drive and said he would encourage more local adventure enthusiasts to participate in the rally.
Mr. Ajoy Shah, Head of Training – JK Tyre & Industries spoke about the company’s contribution towards the development of motorsports in India since the early 1980s. He also mentioned how out of the 40 odd Indian motorsports athletes who have made a mark internationally, more than 30 of them belong to the JK Motorsports Program.
Himalayan Drive 8 (HD8), which was the Grand Finale of INRRC 2021 started from Siliguri on March 24 and culminated in Darjeeling in the evening of March 26. A total of 24 teams, including seven all-ladies team, took part in this event.
Several big names in this format of motorsports locked horns in the bid for the coveted crown. The 24 teams had reached the finals after going through gruelling qualifying rounds at the six zonal levels in Northeast, East, North, West, Central and South India.
The competitors had to navigate through some very tough terrains, including dirt tracks, river beds and hilly terrain. The river beds on the first two legs of the rally proved to be especially challenging with many vehicles getting bogged down in the sand, gravel and rocks leading to seeking assistance of the recovery team to be pulled out.
JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 8 was ceremonially flagged off from Siliguri’s City Centre on March 23 by North Bengal Inspector General of Police Devendra Prakash Singh and Siliguri Deputy Mayor Ranjan Sarkar in the presence of senior police and civil administration officials and corporate bigwigs. JK Tyre Head of Training Ajoy Shah was also present at the event.
On the first day of the rally run on March 24, the competitors started from City Centre and sped down a highway before entering a dirt track that took them past a tea garden and then on to a river bed. This river bed took a toll on the vehicles with six of them requiring assistance from the recovery team.
Competitor Number 10–the team of Jogendra Jaiswal (the runners-up of Himalayan Drive 7) and Suvrajit Dutta had to retire from the first leg due to gearbox getting clogged on this river bed.
After this river bed run, the competitors drove through more dirt roads and challenging terrains to reach Gajoldoba barrage for a break. They then drove through highways to Malbazar and Chalsa before going into village roads to arrive at Murti where the day’s run culminated.
At the end of day 1, the team of Sk. Aniruddha and Raj Kumar Mundra were leading, closely followed by last year’s champions Sk Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa.
The next leg was equally challenging. After being flagged off from Murti, the competitors – including competitor number 10 who got his vehicle back in action – drove down to Jaldhaka river bed. The river bed presented a tricky loop which had even the most experienced rallyists in a fix. Many competitors, including some top league ones, were seen making mistakes, thereby picking up penalty points. A few vehicles also required help from the recovery team.
After the river bed run, the competitors drove through verdant forests and picturesque hamlets nestled in the Himalayan foothills. The second day’s run also took them through many popular tourist spots like Lataguri, Damdim, Gorubathan and Chalsa, and many tea gardens as well. The second leg ended at Murti.
The day’s only casualty was, once again, competitor number 10; the team had to retire for the second consecutive day due to fuel line failure.
The final leg of the rally on Saturday (March 26) saw the competitors starting from Murti in the morning to drive through the dense forests of Gorumara to cross Chapramari and then take the narrow road through Matelli tea estate and cross scenic spots like Samsing and Gorubathan.
After driving past more tea gardens, the competitors crossed the 81-year-old Coronation Bridge over the Teesta to start climbing the Himalayan mountains through narrow and winding roads with hairpin bends. They drove past Mungpoo, Jorebunglow and Ghoom to ultimately reach Darjeeling in the evening.
The last day also witnessed a major scare with one of the competitors–Rohit Kashyap (driver of car number 9)–suffering a heart attack while driving through Gorubathan around 12.35 pm. The JustSportz emergency response team comprising chief medical officer Dhiman Banerjee and Indraneil Mullick rushed to the spot and took Kashyap to a nearby Army outpost and then to the Gorubathan government healthcare centre where he was administered emergency medical care and his condition stabilised.
Kashyap was then transported in the rally’s dedicated ambulance to Neotia Getwel–one of the event partners of Himalayan Drive 8 and a major private healthcare facility in Siliguri–where he underwent an angioplasty and is now recovering. The quick response by the rally’s emergency response team helped save a precious life!