31 Mahindra XUV 500's ferrying 124 participants including six men and two women from Singapore were flagged off by Foreign Minister K.Shanmugam at the F1 pit building yesterday as they started their journey to the Indian capital of New Delhi.

The ASEAN-India car rally will journey through eight ASEAN countries and enter India via the North-Eastern state of Assam - before ending the journey in New Delhi on the 20th of December with a flag down by the leaders of ASEAN member states and India. The timing of the event comes as both regions commemorate 20 years of bilateral ties between India and the ASEAN region.

The journey started in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on Monday and ended 170km later in Surkatara before the participants were flown to Singapore for an official flag off. The 22-day journey will see the 33 cars convoy commuting through a variety of terrains including mountains, flatlands and coastal areas via Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Through the journey the participants will also visit key places of interests like the historic Borobudur temple in Indonesia.

Nearly 300 guests were at the flagging off event yesterday including students from the global Indian international school. The Singapore team is led by Mr Leslie Chang, 49, General Secretary of the Singapore Motor Sports Association.