Uttarakhand Tourism had organised Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally to spread the message nationally and internationally that roads and infrastructure in Uttarakhand are good, and the state is once again the ?eco-adventure tourism destination? for skiing, white-water rafting, wildlife photography, and now also motorsport.
The rally route touched some of the favourite tourism attractions in Uttarakhand. These included Shivpuri for white water rafting, the ski resort at Auli, and Garjiya on the periphery of the Jim Corbett Park.
Vijay Parmar, director, Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally said, ?The Uttrakhand Adventure Car Rally has great potential to grow into a major motorsport event with international participation. With the great support of the government, the rally saw the participation of most of the TSD rallying champions of the country. Next year, the Uttarakhand Rally can develop as the premier TSD round of Indian National Rally Championship. We are looking at the inclusion of these rally routes in the Raid De Himalaya next year, on its way to Kathmandu.?
The rally followed 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.
Jagmeet Gill and Chandan Das, winners of Raid De Himalaya TSD Category 2013, lifted the overall winner’s trophy at Uttarakhand Adventure Car Rally.
The three-day rally saw a close fight among the TSD champions of the country. Gill, who was leading on Day One, slipped to the fifth position overall on Day Two of the rally. On the third and concluding day, Gill made significant progress. Jagmeet and Das were driving for Team Maruti. Uttarakhand secretary tourism Dr UK Panwar gave away the prizes to the winners at a ceremony in Hotel Madhuban.
Bangalore?s champion rallyists and husband-wife duo of Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D?Souza ranked second overall at the rally. Gopalkrishnan ranked second in the SUVs category on Day One. He scaled up to the first position overall on Day Two. But on the concluding day of the rally, he lost his position to Gill. Ajgar Ali from Haldia with navigator M Mustafa of Tamilnadu ranked overall third in the rally. On Day Two, Ali was on the fourth position overall, but improved his timings to rise to the third position on the concluding day of the rally.
Several senior bureaucrats from the state and the Center were participating in the rally. Dehradun deputy commissioner-cum-district magistrate B Purushottam was participating in the rally with Madhukaur Naik, IAS. Purushottam said, ?The rally will have a positive impact on tourism in the state. The rally will send out a strong message that infrastructure in the state is normal, and Uttarakhand is back on rails as a premier tourism destination.?
