Team Force wins mantle of TSD queens of North India

Chandigarh, Feb. 17: The popular duo of Dr. Mala Kapoor and co-driver Prathiba Anand claimed the mantle of TSD Queens of North India, winning the JK Tyre Times Women’s Drive in style late on Saturday evening.

Dr Mala and Pratibha, in their Tri-Colour painted car called FORCE, completed the 250-odd kilometres from New Delhi to Chandigarh with the least penalty (37:35 minutes) to win the inaugural edition of this FMSCI-approved all-women competition.

As many as 300 ladies, in 100 cars, set off early in the morning from the iconic Dhyan Chand Stadium in the Capital. Their driving and navigational skills were tested to the hilt in the two legs, manned by 14 hidden time controls.

In the first leg, the drivers drove through the streets of Delhi, before hitting National Highway 1 all the way to Karnal. The second leg began from Karnal and took them to Chandigarh via Panchkula.

The trio of Swapna Dhawan, Neena Jain and Pooja Matta, known as Indian, claimed the second position in their Toyota Fortuner, with a total penalty of 46:47 minutes. The V2 rally team, consisting of Deepalo Saxena, Sangeeta Mehrotra and Nupur Galhotra, came home with a penalty of 65 minutes to take the third place on the podium.

The winners were felicitated by Bollywood heartthrob Vidyut Jamnwal and Mr. Sanjay Sharma, head of JK Motorsport, during a glittering awards ceremony in Chandigarh.

The drive employed the highest safety standards, with JK’s racing professionals keeping an eye on each of the cars in their fast intervention vehicles.

In additional, there were enough ambulances and recovery vehicles along the route as part of their state of the art safety plan that was appreciated by each and everybody.

Acknowledging the efforts taken by the ladies to make the event a grand success, Mr. Sharma urged the competitors to not give up their dream and follow their passion.

"It was great to see so many women coming out to take part in this drive. I am really happy to see that the craze for motorsport is growing in the country, even more so amongst the ladies. We are committed towards promoting the sport among them and have lined up other such events for them,” Mr Sharma said.

While the competition itself was intense, the women cleverly used the platform to educate and create awareness about various issues, including cancer, girl child, education, safe driving and women empowerment.

A number of teams paid tribute to the sacrifices made by the armed forces, decorating their cars to salute the real heroes of the country. It received a special word of appreciation from the guests, who were present for the prize distribution ceremony.

Apart from the TSD winners, a number of special prizes were handed out to the teams, including the Best Dressed Team award to Rashi Gupta, Bindu Sehra and Shweta Ranjan. The Best Groupfie went to Sugar & Spice consisting of Sadhna, Aditi and Meenakshi.

Monita Bhardwaj of Globe Trotters won the Most Stylish Woman award and Geetanjali, Vibha and Seema won the Best Social Message on the car, for their heartfelt take on cancer. The Best Car Karoake category went to Monisha and Snigdha while the team of Karthika and Jasmine won the award for the Most Socially Active team.