Aishwarya Pissay and Ashish Raorane complete the FIM Bajas World Cup
On day two of the FIM Bajas World Cup, TVS Racing’s Aishwarya Pissay completed the first round and topped the women’s category. Another rider from India, Ashish Raorane, too completed the rally aboard a KTM 450 EXC.
Aishwarya Pissay picked up points in the junior category as the two-day event, covering 400km of special stages across sand dunes concluded in Dubai. Day two of the special stages ran across 204km varied terrain.
On completing the stages, Aishwarya Pissay said, “I am thrilled to have finished the rally as it is a confidence booster. Day 2 was much better for me as I made fewer mistakes and looked to pick up my pace. All the training from the past few weeks really made a difference in the dunes. I will definitely be back next year and look to improve my performance.”
On day one, Aishwarya battled sand dunes and had difficulty navigating. She ended up 31st amongst the 37 riders. Though on day two Aishwarya displayed much improved performance and finished the World Cup 26th in overall classification.
Ashish Raorane too had a tough day one as some minor technical issues in the dunes kept hindering his progress. Nonetheless, the going got better eventually and he finished the rally in 22nd position overall.
Both Aishwarya Pissay and Ashish Raorane were competing in only their second international event. Aishwarya, after her debut in Spain last year ended with a heavy crash leading to injuries and a lengthy rehabilitation. Meanwhile Ashish completed his first Pan Africa Rally in Morocco last year.
