In a bid to encourage participation of women in motorsports in India, Maruti Suzuki India conducted a women’s car rally on July 6th, 2014 in Pune. Rally based on ‘Time Speed Distance’ was scattered over the area of 120 kms route in the city and suburbs of Pune. Around 82 teams participated in the rally and all of them drove Maruti Suzuki cars. Archana Khinvasara, driving a Maruti Suzuki Ritz and her navigator, Vivek Khinvasara won the rally while Priya Joshi driving a WagonR and her navigator Vrushal Joshi stood second. For the ease of the participants they were given a navigation book, while the navigator had to continually calculate the time on the basis of speed and distance figures mentioned in the book and give instructions to the driver. To make sure that the participants are not taking up shorter routes or exceeding the pre-described speed, hidden check points were present.
On the occasion, Manohar Bhat, vice president, marketing, Maruti Suzuki said, “Maruti Suzuki has been associated with motorsports for over two decades. Each year, we have seen increasing interest from women motorsports enthusiasts. The women car rally is a good opportunity for women motorsport enthusiasts to gauge their preparedness for some bigger rallies – like Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya, Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm and Maruti Suzuki Dakshin Dare.”
