Shankarpur: The seaside tourist village of Shankarpur welcomed some unusual visitors as more than 30 rally cars taking part in Monsoon Drive-14 went zooming past curious onlookers on a lazy afternoon last Saturday.
The event, organised by Just Sportz, also served as the fourth leg of the Indian National Time Speed Distance (INTSDRC) championship which saw the top three from each category qualifying for the national final which is scheduled to be held early next year in Mysuru.
The cars, which were flagged off at Country Roads, Panchla, at noon, traversed more than 200km touching Haldia, going past Petuaghat fishing harbour and Dariapur lighthouse off Contai to end at Shankarpur after sunset.
However, there was also an hour-long night leg in and around Shankarpur for the national participants which saw the leaderboard going haywire as competitors struggled to negotiate some tricky time controls (TC) in the dark.
In the end, reigning national TSD champion Jogendra Kumar Jaiswal once again established his credentials by emerging as the driver to beat and making the national final. This is the third podium finish for Jogendra with his new co-driver in experienced Chandan Sen, after the duo teamed up late last year.
Jogendra and Chandan, lying third after leg 1, recovered lost grounds to top the standing with 23 seconds penalty points. A costly error in the first TC at the night stage saw veteran rallyist Subir Roy and co-driver Nirav Mehta slip to end third with 2:17s penalty. But Roy must be happy to see his next generation ready as his son Chandrashish Roy teaming up with driver Soham Hazra piped them to the second spot with 1:37s penalty.
Both father and son will now fight it out in the national final.
Another former champion in open category Ajgar Ali will get a chance to be crowned champion in another section at the national level as the veteran Haldia driver teaming up with wife Rahana Ali Sekkh, made the finals of mixed category finishing second.