Highest participation for Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya 2007

Mumbai, Sep 19 (UNI) The 9th edition of the Maruti Suzuki Raid-de- Himalaya is round the corner and rallyists are all geared up to meet the challenges at India's longest, highest&most strenuous motorsport event that will be held from October 1 to 8 in high mountain passes in Himalayas.

This year there has been maximum participation from 141 teams including six international teams. Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya is the only Indian motorsport event that draws maximum attention from the international rallying circuit.

141 motorsport enthusiasts across the three categories- 38 in X-treme (for professionals), 55 in Adventure Trail (for amateurs)&48 in the third category for two-wheelers will be vying for the coveted title, a release issued here today stated.

This time there are also two all women teams participating in the Xtreme category and also for the first time a foreign woman biker is participating.

Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya is the most talked about in the international rallying circuit. The raid is the only Indian motorsport event that listed on the off road rallies calendar of FIM (Federation Internationale Motorcyclisme), Geneva, Switzerland among 12 other international events worldwide.

Defending champion Suresh Rana of Himachal Pradesh will also run in his Maruti Gypsy. This year, the raid will cover a distance of approx 1715 Kms, spread over seven legs in seven days. The raid will be flagged from Shimla on October 1 and after traversing through Manali, Kaza, Gramphoo, Patseo, Leh and Kargil the rally will finally culminate in Srinagar on October 8, the release said.

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