Rallyist Ashima takes Day 1 lead in Divas on Wheels

Chikmagalur (Karnataka), Jan 18 (IANS) Seasoned rallyist Ashima Duggal held her nerve to streak into the lead of the all-womens 'Divas on Wheels' rally at the end of the first leg here on Friday.

The 35-year-old, along with navigator Amrita Shergill, covered the over 300 kilometres stretch from Bengaluru to Chikmagalur in great style, collecting only 6.50 penalty points.

Shobha Ravi (with Nilofer Ibrahim) and Prafulla K.S. (Sandhya Chandrashekar) were in the second and third positions with 9.30 and 9.36 penalty points.

Over 30 teams made up of a driver and a co-driver left from Bengaluru early in the morning to win the coveted Divas on Wheels crown and handsome cash prizes.

Defending champion Geetha Wadhwa was placed eighth after Day 1 as the rally; it now moves from Chikmagalur to Coorg for the last and final day on Saturday.

They had to tackle close to 130 kilometres in competitive stages, manned by 20 time controls. Ten of these were self TCs, a first in Indian rallying.

The women, who hailed from Bengaluru, Hyderabad (8 teams), Pune and Delhi, traversed through picturesque landscapes, dirt roads, quaint villages and tricky terrains in their quest for supremacy in this TSD rally.

"The introduction of self TCs made it really challenging. We had to be on the lookout for these unmanned posts all through the route and fill in our timings on our own," Ashima, the runners-up in the Times Women's Drive, said.

Her navigator Amrita agreed that the entire rally was exciting as well as demanding.

"We passed through some amazing sights but we could barely take them in as my entire focus had to be on the tulip card," she said.

The organiser of the rally Jai Das Menon said: "Self TCs is an interesting concept. We had placed them in strategic positions, not giving the participants any breathing time or any scope to manipulate their timings."

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