Deep, Prakash climb to second in JK Himalayan Drive

National champions Asgar Ali and Muhammad Mustafa hung on to their lead for the third successive day to remain firm favourites to take the Biswa Bangla JK Tyre Himalayan Drive championship here on Tuesday.

Ali and his navigator Mustafa once again tackled the hilly terrain with aplomb to stay comfortably ahead of all their challengers in the national category at the time of writing. The rallyists began the third leg from Paro in Bhutan in the morning and made their way to Darjeeling as dusk enveloped the ‘Queen of Hill Stations.’

Interestingly, there has been a change in the pecking order with Deep Dutta and Prakash Muthuswamy making their charge, moving from the third position to the second.

The overnight second-placed duo of Subir Roy and Nirav Mehta suffered a technical problem and slipped several rungs and might find it impossible to come back into contention.

The fourth leg will commence on Wednesday morning from Darjeeling and head towards Hile in Eastern Nepal, the third country that the Himalayan Drive will enter.