Local rallyists impress at Raid de Himalaya

Meanwhile,Harpreet Singh Bawa,24,a resident of Sector 38,grabbed the third overall position in the Xtreme four-wheeler (4W) category,missing the second spot by a whisker. “I lost by 40 seconds. In a six-day event where the time-gap between finishers can run into hours,it is equivalent to microseconds in athletics,” said Bawa. He was the runner-up last year.

Bawa,with co-driver Parminder Thakur,were at the second spot on the fourth day but were overtaken in the next leg by Sanjay Aggarwal who took a lead of one minute and 40 seconds. “I was driving a 1300cc Gypsy while both the winner and the runner-up had Grand Vitaras which are much more powerful. So,in that sense,I’m satisfied with my performance,” said Bawa,who was in Team Thunderbolt.

Sharing his experience,Bawa said,“The best thing about the Raid is that my birthday always falls during the event,and so I get to celebrate it in the hills during the event which I love the most.”

In the Xtreme two-wheeler category,Mohit Verma,24,who had finished first overall last year,came down to the sixth position this year,missing the podium by a single rank. “I was doing well but my fuel injection system failed on the last day,making all my efforts worthless. Even then,I was leading by a distance good enough to land me at the sixth place after I crawled my bike to the finish line,” said Verma. Baljeet Singh,a participant in the Alpine category,which is a three-day event for bikers,also brought laurels to the city by finishing as the runner-up. The four off-roaders have also been consistently finishing at the podium in other rallies across the country,including the Desert Storm rally,Mughal Rally and SJOBA rally.

“Chandigarh has always been the backbone of the rally. The city’s participation and performance is commendable as compared to other cities. People like Bawa,Gill and Verma have been consistently doing well over the years,” said Vijay Parmar,President of the Himalayan Motorsport.