KARACHI: The seventh edition of the Hub Rally will kick off on Jan 19 and as many as 50 men drivers and seven to eight women will feature in the race, organisers announced on Monday.

The rally will feature top drivers from across Pakistan, including Nadir Magsi, defending champions Asif Imam and Amir Magsi along with famous women drivers Tushna Patel and defending champion Salma Khan. A day before the competition, the drivers will assess the track.

In a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, chief organiser Shujat Sherwani announced that the track distance for the race has been doubled to 20 kilometers.

However, the Hub Rally is still the shortest rally in the country with sharp turns and a rugged path and therefore is one of the drivers’ favourite.

The race, traditionally, will feature the stock, prepared and women’s categories. The women contestants will start the race followed by the stock racers while the prepared category participants will be the last ones to leave.

Since women and stock drivers are less experienced than the ones lined up in the prepared category, the organisers deemed it right to allow the former two to fasten their grip on a fresher track to avoid unfairness.

Sherwani said better security and punctuality will be the top priority in the upcoming event to avoid controversies which took place in previous editions due to mismanagement of time.

He said drivers who fail to report on time will be disqualified from the race. Sherwani said motorsport has improved in Pakistan but it needs support from sponsors and the media to keep progressing.

The race offers a total winning purse of Rs1 million with the fastest vehicle set to win Rs 500,000.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2020