The Dakar Rally is the ultimate proving ground for cross-country motorcycle racing. The challenge is not only about navigating through 7000km with only a road-book but also about the changing terrain, dust, heat and even sub-zero temperatures. The 2017 Dakar race will begin its first leg tonight and here is a quick preview of the first motorsport event on the 2017 calendar.
The 2017 Dakar rally will run over 9000km as opposed to the 7000-odd km it ran last year. The extended race distance is courtesy Paraguay who has decided to fill in the void left by Chile after the South American country pulled out before the 2016 race. So this year the Dakar will be back to its classic cross-country endurance form that wasn’t quite possible last year especially with El-Nino wreaking havoc through the rally.
The Dakar Rally will start from Asuncion, Paraguay instead of the usual Buenos Aires in Argentina. The Argentinian capital will be the finishing city instead, after the race runs its course through La Paz in Bolivia. The rally starts today, January 2, and will run 12 stages, one every day including a rest day and will finish on January 14.
Last year’s winner Toby Price is the favourite this year as well after the 2015 rookie went on to achieve a podium finish in his rookie year and a Dakar win the next year. Stefan Svitko, Price’s KTM teammate should be fancying his chances along with Pablo Quintanilla astride the Husqvarna. After a not-so-great 2016, Honda will be raring to have a go at the 2017 Dakar with John Barreda, Paulo Goncalves, Ricky Brabec and Michael Metge astride their Honda CRF 450 Rally bikes, trying to challenge KTM’s domination.
This year, for the first time in Dakar history, we have two Indian drivers competing at the highest level. CS Santosh who has two Dakar rallies under his belt, now has a factory sponsor – Hero MotoCorp. Hero, with racing partner Speedbrain, has provided CS Santosh with a platform to build India’s reputation at the Dakar. TVS, another Indian motorcycle maker, has been partnering Sherco for the past three years at Dakar and for the first time has decided to give an Indian rider a go at the toughest motorcycle race in the world. Aravind KP will join TVS-Sherco teammates Juan Pedrero Garcia and Adrain Metge. Aravind will surely benefit from the experiences of the Baja World Series winner Garcia along with his rookie teammate Adrian Metge.
