Resilient Aishwarya Pissay stunning show silences her critics: Rally of Himalayas
Tanika Shanbagh on a bike, Dr Shivani & Deeksha in cars keep the flag flying for #WomenInMotorsports
Manali, 10 October 2021: Cross Country FIM World Cup Baja winner Aishwarya Pissay, who returned to the track courageously once again, after a serious accident that saw fractures on both her wrists, silenced all her critics with stunning resilience that made the connoisseur sit-up and take notice as she beat many of the male riders to come clinch a creditable fifth place and a second on the podium in her M2 Class of 250 to 450cc bikes in the inaugural FMSCI approved Rally of Himalayas, which concluded on Sunday.
For the record, the Rally which brings back the Himalayas as a terrain after Raide de Himalayas is off the Indian rally calendar saw about 100 participants, with about 30 taking part in the bikes category won by Aman Prabhakar Pawde in 2 hours, 55 minutes and 21.100 seconds over three days of tough terrain in Kullu-Manali region.
But it was the ladies who caught the eye, and as one focuses on the South Indian lady riders, INDIAinF1 makes a special mention of the young Tanika Shanbagh, who excelled beyond expectations to finish in the top-10 in her first attempt at the mother of all rallies and one of the highest-altitude rallies in the World. Tanika Shanbagh from Satara, the daughter of former rider Sanket Shanbagh, will be looking to consolidate her new-found love from here on and if nurtured well has a bright future.
The other only lady-pair of Dr Shivani Pruthvi and co-driver Deeksha Balakrishna too successfully completed the rally beating many a male driver in the Cars section.
Final unaudited (provisional) Classification:
(Legend: Position, Class, Competition number, rider name, time taken)
Overall Bikes: 1. M2 #103 Aman Prabhakar Pawde (2hrs, 55min, 21.100sec); 2. M4#135 Santosh Vishnoi ( 2:58:31.600); 3. M4#110 Mohit Thakur (03:02:11.600); 4. M5#120 Suhail Ahmed (03:04:50.800); 5. M2#103 Aishwarya Pissay (03:08:47.300); 6. M12#150 Nitish Bharadwaj (03:10:10.500); 7. M4#126 Saurabh Handa (03:10:31.400); 8. M1#101 Jatin Jain (03:11:03.800); 9. M9#132 Tanika Shanbag (03:11:49.500); 10. Invitational#176 Happy Verma (03:12:49.100);
Car results are awaited
