Darjeeling, 2 March 2018: The pair of Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa successfully defended their title at the Biswa Bangla JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 6 beating the hot-in-pursuit Kolkata duo of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta by a narrow five-penalty margin to bring the rally to an exciting finish in Darjeeling on Sunday.
The five-day event, India’s Tri-Nation TSD rally, took 24 teams across Nepal, North Bengal and Bhutan over 1,615 tough kilometers. 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 Arora maintained their lead right from the Day 1 and emerged winners. The team of Govind Dalmia and Anand Agarwala from Siliguri finished a distant second. Pranjal More and Milindo Paul, also from Siliguri, came third.
In the SUV category, Amit Dhanotia and Anuragh Agarwala emerged winners while in the Above- 1300 cc category, Pranai Rai and Nanki Kharki from Kalimpong won the title. Another Kalimpong team of Bimal Kumar Poudel and Rajendra Gaire won the Under-1,300cc category.
The final leg was flagged off from the Tashi Namgay Grand Hotel above Phuentsholing in Bhutan The rally then hit the hills and passed through Samsing, Gorubathan, Lava and the charming hill station of Kalimpong and continued after lunch through the steep, tea bush-covered hills of Peshoke to reach Darjeeling in the evening through Jore bungalow.
The scenic and iconic Mall in Darjeeling provided the perfect setting for the prize distribution ceremony.
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