Four times Raid de Himalaya winner Suresh Rana was the star of the show, along with another Raid’ winner Along Aier, Sandeep Sharma, and the father- son duo of the Shanbaghs made up the top runners of the event. The Airtel Arunachal Rally ’08 was as tough as the Himalayan rally in terms of extreme climatic conditions, sub zero during the nights and single digit temperatures during the day.

Run under the aegis of the Motorsports Association of India (MAI), the Indian ASN of the Federation International  L’Automobile (FIA), the world body that governs four wheeler Motorsports, the Arunachal Rally presented some of the finest dirt roads that can be found in India. “Our advantage is the availability of dirt roads, which are virtually free of population and getting to maintain special stages without opposite traffic is perfect”, said Lhakpa Tsering, of the Motorsports Club of Arunachal, who himself is a National Rally driver.

Four Special Stages and two Super Special Stages formed the base of the event. The pre-event scrutiny to ensure the competing vehicles adhered to the safety standards set by the MAI was conducted on February 24th. The Airtel Arunachal Rally ’08 was flagged off at 9 a. m.. on February 25th with a Super Special Stage (SSS)  at the Buddha Park Stadium, in Bomdila town. Fog played truant as the eleven cars sped the 1.5 km course, with 1000 spectators cheering, braving the cold and cruel weather. This was followed by the four Special Stages and a last stage which was the reverse of the first stage. The Rally ran from Bomdila, to 9th Mile, Sangti, Zimthung, Dirang, and returned via 9th Mile to finish the day at the Buddha Park Stadium. The second leg on Feb 26th also followed the similar schedule, except for the dropping of the SSS. On the third day, Feb 27th, a Super Special Stage was run at Tenga about 22 kms from Bomdila in the Army Test Track. The final day’s run was treated as a separate entity and the rally was judged on the first two day’s run. This was done to ensure that the drivers give out their best on the third day also, without the worry of saving their vehicles.

Three out of eleven cars failed to finish day one, one more dropped out on Day 2, and seven cars finished the Airtel Arunachal Rally ’08. One of the prime drop outs was Suresh Rana, who after leading the rally for the first three stages, faced problems with his Gypsy’s Clutch and Cylinder, and finished Day 1 at 3rd spot, but encountered  a minor road accident in the transport stage on Day 2, quelled his efforts to win the rally. “The Arunachal rally was very exciting and the stages were very much like the Himalayan. It was unfortunate that I could not win the event”, said a sad looking Suresh Rana. New Delhi ‘Gypsy King’ Sandeep Sharma, co-driven by Ashwin Naik of  Mangalore, won the Airtel Arunachal Rally ’08. “We have been waiting for a win for a long time. We are happy to have won in Arunachal”, said a beaming Sandeep. The father-son team of Ramesh Shanbhag and Sanket Shanbhag  from Satara won the Car Category top spot on their debut rally in  a Maruti Baleno. “We have just shifted from the Gypsy class to the 1600 cc class in the Indian National Rally Championship and this was our test run”, said Ramesh, the father. “We are very satisfied with the car and should do well in the National Championship”, opined Sanket. Dehradun’s Jasbir Singh broke the jinx completing a rally after a year filled with DNFs (Did Not Finish). “We will now go into the National Championship with a lot of confidence”, said Jasbir.

The Government of Arunachal and Airtel  have confirmed to run this as an Annual event.