Mughal Rally, a major and most hotly contested motorsport sponsored by Jammu and Kashmir Bank Limited, is hotting up as scores of intending participants are zooming into Srinagar with their handpicked teams.
The most formidable grouping, it seems, is Team Mahindra. Mahindra has gone all out to ensure it is numero uno at the podium finish for Mughal Rally. The bet begins with Gaurav Gill, the Delhi-based champion rallyist and winner of the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) Asia-Pacific Rally Championship Indonesia (APRC) 2008, the Indian National Rally Championship and the National Road Racing Championship. In 2010, he finished second in APRC. It would be the third such event and the race for victory will unfold over June 30 and July. The J&K Bank Mughal Rally is just about a week away, and the game is hotting up. Team Mahindra, Team Maruti and Team Tata are zooming into Srinagar with their handpicked teams of the best rallyists across the country for what is emerging as one of the biggest and most hotly contested events on the Indian motorsport calendar.
“The road travelled by the icons of Mughal history is all set to become the backdrop for the clash of the titans on India’s motorsport circuit,” the organisers said. They added that the event is happening on the track used by Akbar and later other Mughal emperors through the sylvan Pir Panjal range of the Western Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir to travel from Lahore to Srinagar, and onwards to Jammu and Delhi. “The 3rd J&K Bank Mughal Rally is now a battleground for champion rallyists of the country in the tough, exacting Xtreme 4X4 category — an all-out speed show, locked in battle for the top spot.
Launched in 2010 as a rally for SUVs and cars, Mughal Rally has already emerged as one of the biggest and tightly contested events on the Indian motorsporting scenario. Bikers will be part of the moto-quads section which in turn comes under the rally xtreme category of the event. This category runs to regulations specified by the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing bodies for Indian and international motor sporting events respectively.