Thaindian News

Kolkata, Jan 31 (IANS) Altogether 40 cars, 25 from India and 15 from Bhutan, will compete in the third Indo-Bhutan Friendship Car Rally 2010-Eastern Himalayan Challenge which begins from Siliguri in northern West Bengal Feb 4.
The three-day rally, kickstarting from the Himalayan Tennis Academy in Siliguri, will go through challenging routes in India and Bhutan and finally culminate at Gelephu Stadium in the Bhutanese capital Thimpu Feb 6.

the rally was formally flagged off here Sunday by former army chief Gen (retd) Shanker Roychowdhury. The rallyists were given a ceremonial send-off as they set out for Siliguri from where the rally proper begins.

On Feb 4, the rallyists will drive from Siliguri and go past the Indo-Bhutan border to Phuntsholing. The second day will see the competitors reaching Gelephu.

Organised by Friendship Car Rally Association and sponsored by J.K. Tyres, the 800-km rally will be run in a time-speed-distance format, and the theme for the year is “Connecting People”, the organisers said at a media meet Tuesday.

Dasho Tshering Wangda, Consul General of Bhutan here said: “The rally, which has been organised for the past two years, has definitely inscribed a new chapter in the long history of friendship between the two great countries.”

The rally is considered the biggest motor sports event in eastern India and is one of the only three international events being held in the Indian sub-continent. It has been inscribed as an ‘International Zonal Event’ by the World-wide motor sports authority Federation International of Motorsport (FIA).