Dehradun: The top TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) rallyists of the country are chasing seconds for the race to the winner’s trophy in the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally, which had taken off from Dehradun on December 22.

At the end of Day One yesterday, Rajesh Chalana of Sri Ganganagar and Jagmeet Gill of Chandigarh had overall penalties of 30 seconds each. Satish Gopalkrishnan of Bangalore is closely following Jagmeet Gill in the SUVs category, with overall penalties of 36 seconds.

Interestingly, the announcement made by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Shri Vijay Bahuguna about three overall prizes for the winners has spiced up the contest in the rally. At the flag-off of the rally in Dehradun, the Chief Minister had announced a prize of Rs 5 lakh for the winner of the rally, Rs 3 lakh for the first runner-up and Rs 2 lakh for the second runner-up.

The Chief Minister also announced a prize of Rs 1 lakh for the all-women’s team which scores the highest at the rally. Rally Director Mr Vijay Parmar said that the difference between the champion rallyists competing at the rally is only of a few seconds.

Chalana is competing in the Cars category, and Gill in the SUVs category. Now the fight among contestants is not just in their own category, but also to win the overall first, second or third prize. Gill is driving for Team Maruti.

The rally will have its night halt at Garjiya today, on the periphery of the Jim Corbett National Park. Results for the second day are expected late in the evening.

On Day One, the rally had halted for the night at the ski resort in Auli. Rallyists had to drive through snow and ice on the descent from Auli to Joshimath.

The other competitors who are scoring high in the SUVs category include Vishnu Singh (navigator Adithya Anthony) and Sachin Singh (navigator Chandrashekhar). In the cars category, Chalana is followed in his category by Haldia’s Ajgar Ali (navigator M. Mustafa). There are a total of 31 teams in the rally. Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally will end in Dehradun on December 24.

Jagmeet Gill said he was hoping to strengthen his lead on Day Three of the rally. “When you are competing with the best rallyists in the country, a close contest is expected. I am waiting to see how the results of the second day shape up,” he said.

A number of senior bureaucrats from Uttarakhand and also the Center are participating in the rally. Mr Parmar said that considering this was the first rallying experience for the bureaucrats, they were doing reasonably well in the contest.

Dehrandun Deputy Commissioner Customs and Central Excise Mr Raghvendra Pal Singh, who is also participating in the rally, said almost all hotels and dharamshalas on the way were seen closed. “Tourist flow is very low because of the fear caused by the calamity in June. Such an event was desperately needed to send out the message that roads and other conditions are fine now, and the state is a good destination for holiday fun,” he said.

Dehradun Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate Mr B. Purushottam is also participating in the rally with team-mate Mr Madhukar Naik, IAS. Mr Naik is the Private Secretary to Union Minister of Social Justice Mr Balram Naik. Capt Devendra Kumar Sachan, Chief Pilot of the Uttarakhand government, is participating in the rally with team-mate Mr Lokesh Lohia, a major industrialist of the state.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Shri Vijay Bahuguna had flagged off the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally. The Chief Minister had said it was a matter of pride for Uttarakhand that some senior IAS and IPS officials of the state and the centre were taking part in the rally to strengthen the message of normalcy in the state.

Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally will cover about 850 kilometers on the mountains and plains in the state. The rally route will touch some of the favourite tourism attractions in Uttarakhand. These include Shivpuri for white water rafting, the ski resort at Auli, and Garjiya on the periphery of the Jim Corbett Park.

Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Smt Amrita Rawat said that by going past these tourism hotspots of Uttarakhand, the rally will spread the message nationally and internationally that the state is once again the ‘eco-adventure tourism destination’ for skiing, white-water rafting, wildlife photography, and now also motorsport.

Sports Minister Shri Dinesh Aggarwal said that 13 teams of the youth and motorsport lovers of Uttarakhand are taking part in the rally.

The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally is being organized by Himalayan Motorsport, the premier Shimla-based motorsport club which organizes the world-famous rally – the Raid De Himalaya. The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally is supported by Maruti Suzuki and JK Tyres.
 

On Day 2, the Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally came down from Auli to Karan Prayag. It proceeded towards Chaukhutiya and Kumerian to reach Garjiya on the east of Jim Corbett Park. On Day 2, the rally covered about 280 kilometers of country roads.

On Day 3, the rally will go across some of the most picturesque roads in the state via Nainidhada and Kotdwar to culminate at Paryatan Bhawan, Dehradun.

The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally is authorized by the Federation of Motorsport Clubs of India (FMSCI).

The Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally will follow the TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) format. This is the sober form of motorsport that allows competitors to go slow in populous areas, and stick to specified speed limits at all times.

Through the rally, the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board hopes to raise further resources to assist those affected by the floods.