Eight women will be among the 210 participants taking part in the 11th Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya Motor Rally.

Wheelchair-born Deepika Malik from Punjab and Mumbai lady Nazneen Katrak, who will drive with one arm, will compete in the adventure trial category along with four other women in that section.

Two women will take part in the four-wheeler extreme category in the eight-day rally which will have 115 teams from over 24 regions in the country as well as from abroad

Seventy teams will take part in the X-treme four-wheeler category, 20 in X-treme two-wheelers -- both for professionals -- and 120 amateurs in adventure trial.

Four participants from the United States -- Detlef James, Gurprinder Sarao, Gaurav and Ravinder Prabhakar -- will also take part while four-time winner Suresh Rana of Himachal Pradesh is ready to defend his title in his Maruti Gypsy.

The rally will traverse some of the most difficult terrains in the Western Himalayas through Manali, Kunzum La, Rangdum, Patseo, Leh and Kargil to culminate in Srinagar on October 13, covering more than 2000 kms.

Rallyists will climb over some of the highest motorable passes in the world, including Tanglang La, the second highest motorable pass in the world. Other mountain passes include Jalori Pass, Rohtang Pass, Kunzum La and Baralacha La.

"This is India's longest, highest and most strenuous motorsport event. We are actively promoting motrosport by way of organising Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya. The increasing number of participants over the years is an indication that Maruti Suzuki's efforts to promote motorsport in the country are in right direction," Shashank Manohar, Chief General Manager, Maruti Suzuki, said at a press conference today.

This year, a new leg has been added to the rally -- from Zanskar to Srinagar.

"The rally will also cover additional routes in Zanskar.

Otherwise, there is no change in the route," Himalayan Motorsports of India President Vijay Parmar said.

Thirty five teams are participating in the X-treme four-wheeler category. It is the toughest of the three categories and is open only to those four-wheeler drivers who have prior rallying experience and have competed in the Maruti Suzuki Raid-de-Himalaya or Maruti Suzuki Desert Storm.

Sixty teams will participate in the adventure trial section which is meant for the amateurs and less difficult than the X-treme category.

Twenty 20 bikers will compete in Bikes X-treme category.

One innovation this year is the introduction of Geo Terrestrial Tracking system in the two X-treme categories by which anybody can track the location of any participant on the website of the event.

"This will be only for first leg from Shimla to Manali which has multiple roads. For other legs all the rallyists will drive the same road," Parmar said.