Foreigners stay away from Jeep Rally

KARACHI: Foreigners stayed away from the 11th Cholistan Jeep Rally held from February 12-14 owing to security concerns.

It has been learnt that Hitoshi Fukui, head of BREms department of Toyota, was among the foreigners who avoided attending the event.

He did not turn up for the rally despite his interest in supporting motorsports in Pakistan.

“He was very much interested in coming to the rally since he heads the motor sports division of Toyota but he did not turn up due to security issues,” said a top official of Toyota in Pakistan.

The official added that Toyota was taking interest in motorsports so his presence at the rally would have been very significant.

Meanwhile, Chief Operating Officer Indus Motor Company Ali Asghar Jamali said they were considering launching their brand rally soon.

“We are planning to launch our own brand rally to promote motor sports in Pakistan. We are already leader in this regard and we need to continue this,” said Jamali, adding that they would arrange the rally on a bigger scale.

Currently three off-road rallies are held in the country. Hub Rally is held in January, Cholistan Rally in February, and Jhal Magsi Rally in December.

In the 11th Cholistan Rally, Sahibzada Sultan won in Prepared Category A. The second position was grabbed by Rooni Patel. The third was captured by Nadeem Naeem.

In the Prepared B Category, first position was claimed by Jaffir Magsi, the second by Jam Kamal Khan and the third by Zain Mehmood.

Cholistan Rally’s track is 220 kilometer long with midpoint at 127.8km. It has six turns and 13 check points.