Suresh Rana, Ashwin Naik lead in Raid De Himalaya

Mandi: Maruti Suzuki Raid de Himalaya entered the remote area of Kaza in Spiti yesterday in which 250 are taking part in a week-long competition.

The competition kicked off on Sunday from Manali towards Lahaul Spiti. According to officials, the participants continued their drive on the narrow roads as the rally moved ahead to pass through Demul, Lingti, Sichilingto in Kaza.

On the second day, Suresh Rana and Ashwin Naik were ahead with an impressive lead time of 7 minutes. The duo were followed by Lhakpa Tsering and Venu Ramesh Kumar, who were trailed by Sandeep Sharma and Karan Arya. Among the bikers, day two was led by Abdul Wahid Tanveer, followed by R Natraj, with a gap of 3 minutes between them. In the third spot was Umang Saxena.

The daunting hilly terrain failed to ebb the enthusiasm as competitors rallied their way to the first pit-stop in Kaza at the end of the leg on day one and the second day, they moved toward Sarchu Pass.

Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya is one of the two off-road motor rallies from India listed in the annual motorsport calendar of the Switzerland-based Federation International Automobile (FIA) and Federation International Motorcycles (FIM).

Raid De Himalaya runs in compliance with the International Sporting Code of the FIA, National Competition Rules (NCR) and General Prescriptions of the FMSCI. The rally is organised with an aim of conducting motor sporting events in the Himalayan regions of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. — TNS