Joginder Jaiswal and Prakash Muthuswamy ended Sk Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa’s long reign in the JK Tyre Himalayan Drive, winning the ninth edition of the rally on Wednesday.
The Haldia-based Ajgar Ali and his co-driver Musthafa returned to the familiar terrain as pre-competition favourites, having won the championship four times in a row.
However, Joginder — who hails from Kolkata — and his South Indian navigator upset the applecart, emerging new champions in the pro-national category of the rally, which became part of the ongoing G20 Tourism Working Group meet in North Bengal this time around.
Over three days of racing traversing through challenging terrains across Dooars, Gangtok and Darjeeling, Joginder and Muthuswamy finished with 262 penalty points, pipping Ajgar Ali and his team (305 penalty points) to the title and pocketing the champions’ cheque of Rs one lakh. Santosh Kumar and his navigator Nagarajan Thangaraj (476 pps) finished third.
In the Open Class category, the team of Jasmeet Batra and Kashish Mehta emerged winners. The husband-wife team of Sameeksha Srivasthava and Pulkit Srivasthava from Lucknow finished second in this category.
Pranjal More and Milindo Paul lifted the crown in the Promotional Class category.
The trophies were handed over at a ceremony in Darjeeling on Wednesday with Harsh Vardhan Shringla, chief co-ordinator of the G20 Secretariat, gracing the occasion as chief guest. Former MLA Amar Rai and Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) executive director Samden Dukpa were also present on the occasion.
The rally was flagged off in Siliguri on Sunday and, after touching Murti and Gangtok, finished in Darjeeling on Tuesday.
