By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: After the pair of Andrew and Alex Ropmay confirmed their participation, four more youths from the state are all set to fight it out at India’s most challenging motorsport rally, Raid-de-Himalaya, which starts from Shimla on October 6.
While the Ropmay brothers will compete from Team Steroid, the four youths divided into two teams will take part in the motorsport event under the banner of ‘Team Meghalaya’
The drivers Shibor and Sambor Wahlang along with Damebanshan Dkhar and Edmund Sutnga will compete with 56 other teams in the fourteenth edition of the motorsport rally.
One of the oldest motorsport events to be organized in the country, the Raid-de-Himalaya is listed in the off-road calendar of the Federation Internationale de Motorcyclisme, Geneva, Switzerland.
The four youth representing the Meghalaya Motorsports Club and Jaintia Motorsports Club under ‘Team Meghalaya’ will be assisted by a technical team of 10 members. The teams will be driving a gypsy car during the week-long rally which has been divided into six legs and will cover the distance of over 2000 kilometers from Shimla to Ladakh.
“It will be the first time we are participating in the rally under the ‘Xtreme’ category which involves tough competition, difficulty and stress”, one of the drivers, Shibor Wahlang said here on Tuesday.
Team Meghalaya will compete for a cash prize of Rs 1.50 lakh in the event. The team members, however, stated that the prize money is not the motivation. “Once we finish the race, we are already winners and that fame will stay with us forever”, Wahlang said.
Meanwhile, president of the Meghalaya Motorsports Club Eugene Niangti said that the teams are prepared to take on other well-equipped national sides like Tata, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra etc. and the focus would be on the navigator to prevent the vehicle from going off-track.
Niangti said the state drivers are competent enough to participate in the event. “Though it will be their first Raid-de-Himalaya, some of the drivers have taken part in similar events earlier”, Niangti said.
