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Author: David Bodapati
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Dakar Stage 3, Overall report: JRod, Nasser Al-Attiyah shine
The Focus
Al Artawiyah (Saudi Arabia), 4 Jan 2022: The focus on Tuesday, the third day of the race, the competitors had to tackle a special that was shortened due to the heavy rain that soaked a part of the region of Al Artawiyah. The stage began at the point which should originally have hosted CP1, reducing the timed section by approximately one hundred kilometres.
On a loop around Al Qaysumah, the riders and drivers started with a 214-km link section, before 255 km of special, followed by a 166-km return route to the starting bivouac for the second looped stage on the rally.
On the menu, there was sand which, thanks to the rain, was heavier and provided better carry. However, there were also chains of dunes through which the competitors had to wind as well as climb, over a distance of 30 km, classed as level 2 difficulty. From the top of these first large dunes, the elite competitors could already start to scrutinize the route of the long stage in store for tomorrow: Nasser Al-Attiyah and Daniel Sanders, through managing their race on the day’s special, look well prepared to affront it.
OUTLINES
The story of David against Goliath is mythical and can sometimes be repeated on the Dakar. Such thumbing of the nose was carried out today in the bike category by Portugal’s Joaquim Rodrigues, who achieved a certain form of consecration by winning a special on his 6th Dakar (see “Performance of the day”).
His feat did not perturb the leaders of the overall classification, though the gaps between them narrowed before the major battle which is expected on Wednesday, the 5th of January, on the way to Riyadh.
For his 31st birthday, Adrien Van Beveren was within 4 seconds of deposing his rival Sam Sunderland from the top of the race hierarchy, on which Matthias Walkner (3rd) and Skyler Howes (4th) also closed in.
In total, five brands were represented in the top 6, with the Sherco ridden by Lorenzo Santolino in 6th place. A first victory was also not very far off for Henk Lategan, who was the fastest driver at the intermediate check points. However, he came up against a very imposing stage win collector at the end of the special in the form of Carlos Sainz, who crossed the finishing line with the best time for the 40th occasion in his career on the Dakar (see “Stat of the day”).
Nonetheless, the Spaniard denied himself the pleasure of celebrating, such was his frustration at falling out of the reckoning two days ago in the fight for the title, which chiefly concerns Nasser Al-Attiyah… and increasingly less Sebastien Loeb.
The Frenchman and his BRX Hunter remain in 2nd position, but the breakage of his prop shaft after 10 km of racing forced him to drive conservatively (well, as much as that is possible for a driver like Loeb!) and he finished the day more than 37 minutes behind the Qatari race leader.
In the T3 class, Seth Quintero tried to drown his disappointment at Monday’s display (when he lost several hours due to a mechanical problem) by grabbing his third special after a short night’s sleep, though “Chaleco” López now leads the overall classification, with Sebastian Eriksson 9 minutes behind in his rear-view mirror.
The Poles continued their stage win domination in the SSV category, with another special success picked up by Marek Goczał but American Austin Jones is still in command in the overall classification. In the truck race, in his Kamaz number 500, Dmitry Sotnikov consolidated his position as leader by obtaining his 2nd stage win of the year, climbing onto the top step of the day’s podium onto which also clambered Janus Van Kasteren from Team De Rooy behind the wheel of his Iveco.
Performance of the Day
Joaquim Rodrigues was not aware of the fact this morning at the start, but he set off with the costume of a superhero! Featuring on the virtual podium at each check point, he won the special to obtain his first victory on the Dakar. He also offered the same distinction to Hero Motorsport, the Indian brand for whom he made his debut in 2017.
“J-Rod” has endured the worst of experiences, with the death of his team-mate Paulo Gonçalves on 12th January 2020, but today enjoyed one of the best, thanks in part to his former countryman and teammate: “It’s my first stage victory on the Dakar and its historical for the team, I’m really, really happy. I was riding well and so fast that I even said to myself, ‘Paulo is riding with me here’. I think he and I won here today”.
The Portuguese rider’s performance is a reward for the unrelenting work of Wolfgang Fischer’s team, which has cast off the curse that seems to have affected the red and whites: “J-Rod was there with Santosh when we began the project, which has obviously experienced highs and lows. Returning last year with the construction of a new bike following Paulo’s death was not easy. We took part in as many races as possible and organised as much testing and training as we could in order to be ready for the Dakar, but we ran into bad luck in the weeks leading up to the race with injuries to Sebastian Buhler and Franco Caimí. In the end, we are here with Aaron Mare and only have two riders, but Joaquim has won for him and for Hero. It is a very emotional moment for us”.
Crushing Blow
Last year, for his first participation on the Dakar, Laisvydas Kancius finished in seventh place, which is a perfectly respectable performance for a rookie. For this 44th edition of the Dakar, the Lithuanian was simply hoping to go one place better in the overall classification. “Finishing sixth would be good, but of course everybody dreams of a podium finish,” he admitted. He looked to have the capabilities of achieving this goal with ninth place on the opening special. The following day witnessed consecration with no less than victory on stage 1B, more than ten minutes ahead of Pablo Copetti and Giovanni Enrico, who were on the Dakar 2021 podium behind Manuel Andújar. This display enabled him to tackle Monday’s special with the status of category leader. Although he had lost a few minutes by the time he reached the finishing line, he completed the third stage still on top of the overall classification. “Easy does it, we’re sticking to the plan,” he cheerfully commented yesterday evening on Facebook. But, as a famous poet once said, the best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry: his adventure unfortunately ground to a standstill after the first check point due to a mechanical problem. As if that was not enough, his quad also got stuck in the sand, leaving him to admit that even if he managed to dig it out, he would not be able to resume racing. This forced withdrawal is a major blow for the Lithuanian. Nevertheless, he can play his trump card and return to action tomorrow. With 14 quads at the start this morning, Kancius, even with the significant penalty he will receive, could still be in with a shout of making an impact on certain stages.
Stat of the Day
Back to the future! Today, Carlos Sainz took us on a journey back in time through the history of the Dakar… In fact, you need to go back to 1985 to find the most recent victory by an Audi on the Dakar. At the time, it was a Quattro belonging to the French privateer team Malardeau, driven by Bernard Darniche. In obtaining the 40th success of his career on the Dakar, “El Matador” put the Audi RS Q e-tron on the highest step of the podium for the very first time on the world’s most prestigious rally-raid. The icing on the cake was that it was also the first victory achieved by a car enrolled in the T1-Ulimate class, a brand-new category introduced this year, reserved for alternatively powered vehicles. The introduction of this class is part of the first act in the #DakarFuture plan and it is a safe bet that this first triumph by a hybrid vehicle will lead to many more. In any event, all the signals are on green…
World Rally-Raid Championship
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb were neck-and-neck yesterday, but today that is no longer the case. The Frenchman who broke his transmission, drew a blank on completion of stage 3 and stays on a total of nine points. However, by finishing eighth on the stage but third amongst the world championship protagonists, his Qatari rival has added three points to his total and is the same number of units ahead of Loeb. “Nani” Roma enjoyed a profitable day in W2RC terms because he is now only one point behind his BRX clan team-mate. In the T3 class, Seth Quintero, who was unlucky on Monday, came up trumps today and climbs to within two points of “Chaleco” López. As regards their T4 class colleagues, Michał Goczał got the upper hand over Austin Jones and the two Can-Am drivers are respectively on 11 and 10 points before the fourth special. In the truck race, Martin Macík opened up the gap a little further, with 15 points as opposed to the 12 possessed by his team-mate Martin Šoltys.
Classic Freeze-Frame
For the provisional classification in the H3 class, which is for the Dakar Classic’s best performing historical vehicles with a high average constant speed, there is a whiff of a family affair! In the first three places, there are two crews of spouses and one father and son duo. Mr. and Mrs. Panagiotis lead, followed by their FJ team-mates, namely the Galpins. Two Protrucks formerly driven by Saby and Pescarolo occupy the first two places and are followed, as if it was necessary to drape the French control of this class in a blue, white and red flag, by Philippe and Kevin Grandjean from the Ralliart Off Road Classic team, who are driving their Mitsubishi Pajero dating from 1988. And it is not just any old car, because it is a veritably historical vehicle: a prototype produced at the time by the Maingret factory, painted in Nikon’s colours, a replica of the car that was the star of the Paris-Cape Town rally in 1992. Thirty years ago, Hubert Auriol was behind its wheel, escorted on the South African podium by his two team-mates from Ralliart. It is a fine homage to the first biker to win the Dakar on four wheels, who passed away almost one year ago. As if that was not enough, the spectre of one of the discipline’s giants looms in the rear-view mirror of our French friends: Vatanen, in the form of the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 Grand Raid from 1987, the year of the Sochaux based constructor’s debut on the Dakar. It is driven by a lady driver, Fanny Jacquot, who has just entered the top 10 of the H3 class behind the wheel of one of the stars in the Dakar Classic field, prepared and entrusted to her at the last minute by her father. It is enough to make those who are lucky enough to attend the start of the fourth stage to Riyadh pure with pleasure.
Quote of the Day
Ignacio Casale: “I can fight with the top drivers.”
The Chilean driver and two-time Dakar winner in the Quad category is starting to flourish in his reconversion with increasingly-impressive performances in the truck category: On Tuesday, he achieved the 6th-best time on the special.
“Today was a very funny stage for me. It was very speedy and fast. I think we finished in sixth position and that’s good for me because I can fight with the top drivers.”
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JRod wins maiden Dakar stage; brings in first success for Hero MotoSports
Al Qaisumah (Saudi Arabia), 4 Jan. 2022: Portuguese star Joaquim Rodrigues, of Hero MotoSports Team Rally not only won his maiden Dakar stage but brought the first success for the Indian manufacturer of two-wheelers at the World’s toughest rally raid event.
TVS ace Harith Noah, the lone rider representing India, finished the stage 29th after losing time before the first Way Point but recovered brilliantly to make up at least 11 positions and finished at a respectable 29th which put him in an overall 31st place.
After creating history with the victory for the World’s largest bike maker, Hero Moto Corp, the Portugal rider “J-Rod”, who endured the worst of experiences, with the death of his team-mate Paulo Gonçalves on 12th January 2020, said: “It’s my first stage victory on the Dakar and its historical for the team, I’m really, really happy. I was riding well and so fast that I even said to myself, ‘Paulo is riding with me here’. I think he and I won here today”. On Tuesday, he enjoyed one of the best, thanks in part to his former countryman and teammate.
JRod, as he is affectionately called, won the 255-km Stage 3 in 2 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds. Earlier today, as Daniel Sanders, the leader on the first two days, was eagerly awaited at the finishing line to discover the outcome of this Special Section. But the hungry Australian stopped for a couple of minutes to take bite and lost a good three minutes and dropped to fifth place. Toby Price has completed the stage in second place, ahead of the incredible Mason Klein.
But today it was Joaquim Rodriques, who deserves all the praise.
About J Rod
Joaquim Rodrigues has had to deal with a lot in the past couple of years, but riding his bike has slowly helped the 40-year-old to recover his form and confidence. At Dakar 2020, the Portuguese rider lost his brother-in-law Paulo Gonçalves, who tragically died on the seventh stage. The terrible event plunged the entire rally raid family into a state of mourning, and left Joaquim battling with depression.
After an extremely difficult year, he made the bold decision to return to the Dakar in 2021 and ride it in honour of the man who was married to his sister Sofia. One of the most emotional moments of the rally was seeing a tearful Joaquim cross the finish line on the final day and point to the skies.
The Hero MotoSports factory rider now takes Paulo with him wherever he goes racing, and the whole team wear Paulo’s final race number, 8, on their kit. Joaquim has had a busy 2021 season, competing in as many rallies as possible to help Hero fine-tune their 450 Rally and target the top places at Dakar 2022.
He began with a promising fourth place at the Andalucia Rally, and ended with a first world championship podium at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge -the same rally where Paulo took his maiden world championship podium in 2012. Over the course of a long professional career in supercross, motocross and rally raid, Joaquim has learned that you have to play it smart on an event like the Dakar. In spite of everything he was going through last year, he still took a very creditable 11th place in the bikes, and will now be looking to finish in the top 10 for the second time after his 2017 debut.
Before Dakar 2022 JRod said: “The main goal is always Dakar. We need to ride in the desert, and this year we tried to race as much as we could. The bike is always new, we’re always developing. That’s why we use all these races during the year to test new stuff. I think all the factory teams do that, because the best testing is racing, you know? I think we’ll be better prepared for the next Dakar.
“Time on the bike is always good! You feel more comfortable, more loose on the bike. Racing is the best thing you can do. And the results are showing that also. The whole team is doing good and that’s what’s important. Every time I go on the bike now, Paulo goes with me, to every race. It was hard times, still is hard times, difficult for my family, my sister and her kids. It’s been tough, you know. But taking him with me motivates me a little bit to keep pushing, to keep going and not give up. That was Paulo. I have many years of racing already, not only rallies but also motocross and supercross.
“And you can’t do more than what you can control. Just go out there every day and do the best you can. Make your bad days work as well as you can, and at the end of the race see what you get. I take every day as it comes, not thinking about the final result. Even if I come last, if I feel it was the best I had in me that day, it’s good enough for me. That’s the mentality you need to have, especially for rallies.”
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TVS talent Harith Noah completes Dakar Stage 3 successfully; Hero’s JRod wins maiden stage
Al Qaisumah (Saudi Arabia), 4 Jan. 2022: Harith Noah KV of Sherco TVS Rally Factory team finished another day successfully at the gruelling Dakar 2022 with a creditable 29th position completing the shortened Stage 3 at Al Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. The steady ride today helped him improve his Overall ranking to 31st in RallyGP class, the premier category in the Moto section, where 142 bikes took the start.
Portuguese rider Joaquim Rodriques of Hero MotoSports Team Rally won his maiden Dakar stage. Noah, the lone rider representing India, clocked 12 hours, 29 min. and 46 seconds.
“It was a technically tough ride and I am happy to have finished it. After the crash on the first day, it was pretty cool with navigation yesterday and I finished safe and sound. The marathon stage was cancelled today, and it was a good day for me. I did the shorter special section without any hiccups and I am taking it day by day,” said Noah on Tuesday in a voice message from Saudi Arabia.
Starting on a loop around Al Qaysumah, the TVS talent initially took the 214-km link section to take the start of the 255-km special but lost a few minutes after the first way point. However, astride a Sherco 450 SEF rally, he made up many places with steady navigation in the next Special Sections, and consolidated his position before returning along a 166-km link route for a respectable 29th.
Nine more stages will be run with a rest day on Jan 8. In Dakar, every finisher is a winner and Noah, who became the fastest rider at Dakar from India, is looking for a safe finish. The 28-year Sports Science graduate from Kerala, who made his debut in 2020, is on his third Dakar campaign. His best, an Overall 20th, came last January.
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Happy birthday, Schumy! A trip down memory lane
By Bodapati David
Happy Birthday, Dad! Says Mick Schumacher on social media.
Days like these were important to my growing passion for Motorsport, and still affect it to this day. I am grateful for all the experiences you have given me and I’m excited to be making new ones in the future, Mick Schumacher on Twitter. Bengaluru, 4 Jan 2022: It is exactly 20 years since I first met Michael Schumacher. He was then at his peak, the God of Motorsports, when I ment him at Sepang during the Formula 1 World Championship race in the F1 calendar, hosted by Malaysia. That year, I was deputed by my employer The New Indian Express to cover the hockey World Cup that was also held in Kuala Lumpur. That was the infamous year, where a National hockey coach was sacked midway through the tournament.
Sensing that a World Cup is a big assignment for which I have worked for over eight years, I readily agreed but secretly planned another big assignment, the F1. In the last minute, Indian Express told me that they would bear only half the cost. With only a week left, that left me in a frenetic search for the resources to plan and arrange the logistics. Fortunately, everything fell in place. But the sudden change of plan, also helped me to stay back for a week and travel to Sepang and cover the Formula 1 race, my maiden FIA World Championship. I have visited for at least 12 F1 races since then. It was late Nazir Hoosein, who helped me fill in the accreditation form and submit it before the last date, a month earlier.
Jean Todt, was then the manager of Ferrari. For over a week, I have been tailing him and requesting for an interview of Michael Schumacher. I was, at that time, not actually a fan of Michael. I was a blue-eyed boy learning motorsports… grown up guzzling draught beer on the streets of downtown Bangalore, with a liking for one particular pub called Guzzlers Inn, with I frequented with veterans for every F1 screening. So as a McLaren fan, it was a bit tough to do an interview of Michael but I was armed with all the questions from the die-hard Indian tifosi, who all pooled their questions, including my Resident Editor back home, and one naughty motorsports fan, James, fondly known as Kimi in the newsroom. All the questions landed in my inbox. I could not take a print out but jotted them down, and as I was going to the circuit on Monday, a friend and colleague, who was with me at Centre Point hotel, where all the hockey journalists shacked up, asked me a favour. So Sandeep gave me a colourful book, the programme book of F1 which cost about 60 ringett, if I remember correctly. And a sketch pen! He insised that I should get Michael Schumacher autograph.
For one week, religiously, I carried the book and the pen, but alas there was no interview. Finally, on Friday, Jean Todt, my saviour then, agreed ! And said, I could go around the ‘pen’ and catch him. It is an area where Michael would come after the practice session and give bites to all TV crew, mostly German. I was the only print media guy looking lost. For print guys had no access to that area unless they have that special wrist band. But I did make it to the first place available, thanks to Ferrari support. We waited, waited and waited. The 45 minutes was like a year. And finally the real God descended. I was trying to squeeze in, to get his view. But had no chance with all the bullish cameraman who bulldozed me. One by one, I tried to jump the queue, using all the tricks in the book. After I skipped, hopped and stood still… Schumy noticed and pointed a place near the pole, at the end of the square shaped temporary structure. I went and humbly stood there, another 25 minutes passed.
And then he came. The God said: Are you the one from INDIA?
Shocked and scared: I nodded my head weakly. Then came a booming voice again.
TWO QUESTIONS! Later, I was grateful, it was only two questions. As I could not recollect any.
In all the confusion, I dropped the felt pen. My first priority was an autograph. Then suddenly my resident editor appeared in my vision rather threateningly!. I forgot all the questions, but quickly reconciled and remembered the one, he sent.
After so many wins, what makes you focus and race again… I blurted out. He smiled patted me and answered briefly…
I was in a trance. Did not know what happened later. But I saw him bending down taking the felt pen and signing autograph in the book. And yes, it was only one question but back in the safety of the hotel, I reeled out 1000 words and hurray, it was a Page 1 story the next day in Bangalore, and many other Indian Express editions.
Memoreis are vivid. I became his fan instantly. And followed his exploits ever since, till that fateful day… Sporting Gods live for ever, in our hearts!
PS: For the Original interview read Indian Express, which was published in 19 editions all over the country way back in 2002. Unwittingly, I also became the first Indian to interview Schumacher. Later, many more journalists did interview him in his second stint even as F1 came to India for three years.
Will try to get the link here soon.
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Dakar 2022 Stage 3: Complete overall report; Loeb stars
Ha’il (Saudi Arabia), 3 Jan 2022: Harith Noah of India completed the stage 3 successfully while Hero riders JRod and Aaron Mare put in stunning performances to finish in the top-10 on Day 3.
Focus
Genuinely swamped by the rain, the bivouac at Al Artawiyah was deprived of the very special evening of the marathon stage it was originally planned to host. Nevertheless, bowing to nature is in the DNA of the rally-raid discipline: without the bat of an eyelid, the organisers and competitors re-routed to the stage 3 bivouac.
However, the sporting programme for the second stage did not suffer similar upheaval because, on completion of the 338-km special, heading towards the province of Riyadh, a new 270-km link route made it possible to reach Al Qaysumah, where the caravan will stay for two nights.
The competitors in the Dakar Classic category, whose route parallel to the other categories was too heavily impacted by the flooding, travelled directly in convoy to the replacement stage hosting city. 90% of the day’s special was contested on sand, with a third made up of dunes on which the leading lights in the bike category started to close ranks just before the combat between Al-Attiyah and Loeb turned to the advantage of the BRX Hunter.
Outlines
He has never given up and is still chasing a first title on the Dakar. Joan Barreda, reputed to be one of the fastest riders in the pack, has never enjoyed a better finish than the 5th place in the overall classification that he achieved in 2017. Yesterday, a long session of navigational difficulties compromised his chances. However, as is often the case, his temperament drove him into making a comeback. With an attacking strategy pushed to the extreme, he grabbed his 28th stage victory, while far ahead of him, Sam Sunderland and Adrien Van Beveren respectively seized the first two places in the overall classification, separated by a gap of 2’51’’.
Sébastien Loeb is another formidable hunter of stage wins. What’s more, with his 15th victory on the Dakar (see “Stat of the day”), which he obtained by stalking Nasser Al-Attiyah who was on top form, the Frenchman moved to within 9’16’’ and, behind the wheel of his evidently smoothly running Hunter BRX, he showed himself to be a worthy rival to the Qatari for the title. The duel that is emerging between Al-Attiyah and Loeb is very unlikely to be affected by the Audis, even if both Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel are still determined to set tongues wagging with their performances: after their setbacks yesterday, they completed the stage in 3rd and 4th place.
Manuel Andújar also suffered yesterday, but the injector problems on his quad have now been solved. With his stage triumph, he took a leaf out of Barreda’s strategy book, but still trails the leader in the category, Lithuanian Laysvidas Kancius, by half an hour.
In the T3 race, Guillaume De Mevius accomplished a veritable exploit (see “Performance of the day”), pipping “Chaleco” López at the post by 4 minutes, though the Chilean can console himself with gaining the leadership in the overall classification, due to Seth Quintero’s differential case breaking 30 km from the finishing line.
Poland again featured on the roll of honour for SSV stage wins, thanks to the best time of the day achieved by Michal Goczał, but it was Austin Jones who took command of the overall classification with a small lead of 1’52’’. A third different Kamaz this year triumphed in the truck race, with Andrei Karginov finishing in front of his team-mates. The situation is similar in the overall classification, with the blue trucks occupying the first four places and Sotnikov in the lead!
Performance of the DAY!
The OT3-Red Bull team is continuing to experience ups and downs. While Seth Quintero was left at a standstill by a mechanical problem 30 km from the finishing line, a nice surprise came with the performance of Guillaume de Mevius, a rookie who is getting a real taste of the emotional yo-yo of the Dakar. Following a last-minute change of co-pilot, the Belgian, now accompanied by Kellon Walch, lost seven hours on yesterday’s stage. This problem also meant he had to start the stage extremely late, obliging him to drive in the deep grooves left by the trucks. However, this type of setback did not stop him from driving at pace, nor from accomplishing the best time on completion of the 338 km that made up the day’s special! Not content with that, the stage winner also had the time to display kindness and stop to help his team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen change a wheel. Such a relaxed performance is certainly a vision of the Dakar inherited from his father Grégoire, who won three stages on the rally at the beginning of the 2000s.
Crushing Blow!
Truly, when your luck is out, it really is out… Today, Danilo Petrucci gave the perfect illustration of this adage. It all began on the 6th of December when the native of Terni broke his right ankle and heel. Nonetheless, he still came to Saudi Arabia to see how things would unfold and he soon realised that it was within his possibilities to race, even if it meant soldiering on through gritted teeth. However, a stumbling block was thrown up when he tested positive for Covid-19 two days before the start. After a further test, the former MotoGP winner finally received the green light to make his dream of racing on the Dakar come true. Petrucci is fast, in fact he is very fast, as shown by his second place in the overall classification for the Rally2 category on the evening of stage 1B. Yet, after withstanding the pain of his injuries and the threat of Covid-19, it was in fact a mechanical problem that put paid to the hopes of the Tech3 rider, as his KTM ground to a halt after 115 km of the day’s special. He strove to repair, but in vain and, in the end, was airlifted from the stage. Petrucci has not yet thrown in the towel, because he can play the trump card that allows him to continue the adventure and gain experience in the rally-raid discipline. If he chooses to do so, he will receive a similar penalty to the one handed out to Stéphane Peterhansel in the car category.
Star of the Day!
Sébastien Loeb’s patience and selflessness were finally rewarded today between Ha’il and Al Qaysumah. The nine times winner of the WRC was able to maintain Nasser Al-Attiyah within his sights and then eventually taste victory on completion of stage two of the 44th edition of the Dakar. Sébastien Loeb now boasts 15 stage wins on the event and has equalled his countrymen Jean-Louis Schlesser and Bruno Saby in the roll of honour for stage victories in the car category. By climbing onto the top of the day’s podium, Loeb has also provided the Prodrive firm and its BRX team, which have been on the Dakar since last year, with their very first success. Indeed, it is the 27th different constructor to taste triumph on the rally. The icing on the cake was provided by Nani Roma’s fifth place finish, eight minutes behind his team-mate, making it a fine day for the BRX clan.
World Rally-Raid Championship
Another duel is taking place on the tracks of the Dakar with the aim of crowning the world rally-raid champion and it involves the two main players at the beginning of this rally. Each with a stage victory and a second-place finish, Sébastien Loeb and Nasser Al-Attiyah together lead the classification. Today, “Nani” Roma also made his entrance into the rankings and finds himself tied in 3rd position with Lucio Álvarez, both on 3 points. The contest also concerns the T3s, led by South Racing’s Can-Am driven by Francisco “Chaleco” López ahead of Cristina Gutiérrez’s OT3-Red Bull. In the T4 class, Austin Jones is leading the dance, whilst in the truck category, after only two days, Martin Macík is starting to open up a gap, with a total of 10 points.
Classic Freeze Frame
The Dakar Classic arrived at the bivouac earlier than planned due to the cancellation of the day’s stage. Making the best of a bad job, the 301 competitors spread over 142 vehicles were able to take advantage of the service park to get a closer look at the gems enrolled in the second vintage of the race. The aficionados virtually made a pilgrimage to see vehicle number 707, which is the very definition of a classic, to see it for themselves. Hervé Cotel designed his eponymous buggy himself during the year the Dakar was created: 1979. He enrolled it the following year and achieved a 13th place finish. In 1981, for his second attempt, only the Range Rover driven by Metge and Giroux was able to resist. At the age of almost 75 years old, he is among the competitors who have had the privilege of climbing onto the podium in the Senegalese capital and can lay claim to being one of the veritable pioneers of the Dakar. With the Sunhill buggy, also racing this year, he featured among those who wrote the first pages of the buggy’s story in the history of the Dakar, inspired at the time by the Baja races in California. In 2005, Hervé Cotel started to bring things full circle by competing alongside a man who is one of a kind, American Ronn Bailey… in a buggy, quite naturally! For his comeback on the Dakar, he rebuilt his own creation as at the beginning – quite simply a Dakar legend.
Quote of the DAY!
Sam Sunderland: “It’s always nice to lead the rally”
2nd on the day’s special, the official GasGas rider continues to boost the reputation of the Catalan constructor o the Dakar following the two stage wins achieved by team-mate Daniel Sanders.
“It’s always nice to lead the rally, but we’ve got a long way to go. It doesn’t mean so much because we know this race. The navigation is so tricky and it looks like every day when the guys are opening they are losing a lot of time. There are so many long difficult days to come, I’m sure, so I’m sure there will be a lot more switching around, but of course it’s still good to lead and it shows that we are on point and on pace. The bike feels really good and physically I feel pretty strong this year. I’m looking forward to some long days to come”.
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Harith Noah finishes Stage2 in 27th for an Overall 32 rank; Hero’s JRod 6th today
Ha’il to Qaisumah (Saudi Arabia), 3 Jan. 2022: Sherco TVS Rally Factory team rider Harith Noah KV passed another tough test admirably to successfully complete Stage 2 improving his performance on the day to finish in the top-30 and improved his Overall ranking to 32 in the Moto RallyGP class of Dakar 2022 on Monday. The day also saw superb performance by Hero MotoSport Team Rally riders Aaron Mare of South Africa and Joaquim Rodriques of Portugal, who finished in the top-10 today. Mare took an Overall 11th and JRod 18th while Sherco TVS Factory Rally team’s rider Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino ended the day with a brilliant overall sixth position despite a 16th today. Rui Goncalves of Portugal, the third Sherco rider was 12th after leading the rally today for a while.
The 28-year Kerala rider, went steady with his navigation and completed the tough course which had chips underneath the vast sands, and kept up tempo clocking 4hours, 3min, 15sconds on Day 3, which meant that he is behind the leader Joan Barreda Bort of Monster Energy Honda by 31min, 55sec. In the overall ranking, he is placed 32nd after three days and two stages. The Shoranur star is backed by TVS, Sherco, Scott India and CamelBak, India. He took 9:40:35 for the total Special Section distance of two stages and is behind by 1:09:06 to the leader Sam Sunderland, who came second today. Overnight leader Australian Daniel Sanders, who finished 23rd today, however, will continue with a ranking of Overall third behind Adrien Van Beveren of France.
Joaquim Rodriques: Photo by Hero MotoSports Team Rally Meanshile, Noah’s teammate Lorenzo Santolino who finished 16th today clocking 3:46:50 took an overall ranking of sixth, the best at this stage by a rider associated with Indian name, the Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team. The third Sherco member 36-year Rui Goncalves did a brilliant job leading the pact at one point, but ultimately lost the way with a penalty and finished Day 3 at 12th position, taking an Overall ranking of 48th.
Harith Noah, who trained for three months in Europe to fine tune his navigational and road book skills arrived in Saudi Arabia with his engineer Prakasam and both after two COVID19 tests settled down without any quarantine requirements and Harith Noah is pooled with Goncalves in the same truck for service by Sherco.
Astride a brand new Sherco 450 SEF Rally bike, the Indian suffered initial glitches in the short qualifying stage 1A, where a navigational error and a fall cost him precious time but he recovered in time and pulled on bravely to finish a creditable 36th. That meant that he is not in the top-15, who selected their start order for the actual long-distance Specials that began on Jan 2 with a 333-km tough section. He kept up the tempo and finished 27th to improve his overall ranking to 34. Today he again did well to finish 27th and an overall 32nd ranking.
Aaron Mare: Photo by Hero MotoSports Team Rally POS. N° EXP. DRIVE-TEAM MARK-MODEL TIME VARIATION PENALITY 1 88 (ESP) JOAN BARREDA BORT MONSTER ENERGY HONDA 03H 31′ 20” 2 3 (GBR) SAM SUNDERLAND GASGAS FACTORY RACING 03H 36′ 53” + 00H 05′ 33” 3 1 (ARG) KEVIN BENAVIDES RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 03H 37′ 14” + 00H 05′ 54” 4 5 (USA) SKYLER HOWES HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING 03H 37′ 36” + 00H 06′ 16” 5 18 (AUS) TOBY PRICE RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 03H 38′ 20” + 00H 07′ 00” 6 27 (PRT) JOAQUIM RODRIGUES HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY 03H 41′ 38” + 00H 10′ 18” 7 142 (SVK) STEFAN SVITKO SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM 03H 41′ 52” + 00H 10′ 32” 8 42 (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 03H 42′ 54” + 00H 11′ 34” 9 29 (USA) ANDREW SHORT MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 03H 43′ 22” + 00H 12′ 02” 10 6 (ZAF) AARON MARE HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY 03H 43′ 57” + 00H 12′ 37” 11 10 (CZE) MARTIN MICHEK ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP 03H 44′ 38” + 00H 13′ 18” 12 19 (PRT) RUI GONÇALVES SHERCO TVS RALLY FACTORY 03H 45′ 08” + 00H 13′ 48” 13 11 (CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO MONSTER ENERGY HONDA 03H 45′ 46” + 00H 14′ 26” 14 52 (AUT) MATTHIAS WALKNER RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 03H 45′ 51” + 00H 14′ 31” 15 2 (USA) RICKY BRABEC MONSTER ENERGY HONDA 03H 46′ 24” + 00H 15′ 04” 16 15 (ESP) LORENZO SANTOLINO SHERCO TVS RALLY FACTORY 03H 46′ 50” + 00H 15′ 30” 17 77 (ARG) LUCIANO BENAVIDES HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING 03H 52′ 41” + 00H 21′ 21” 18 24 (FRA) CAMILLE CHAPELIERE TEAM BAINES RALLY 03H 52′ 54” + 00H 21′ 34” 19 17 (ESP) JOAN PEDRERO GARCIA RIEJU – FN SPEED TEAM 03H 53′ 51” + 00H 22′ 31” 20 22 (POL) MACIEJ GIEMZA ORLEN TEAM 03H 54′ 29” + 00H 23′ 09” 21 54 (BOL) DANIEL NOSIGLIA JAGER RIEJU – FN SPEED TEAM 03H 55′ 08” + 00H 23′ 48” 22 16 (BWA) ROSS BRANCH MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM 03H 55′ 49” + 00H 24′ 29” 23 4 (AUS) DANIEL SANDERS GASGAS FACTORY RACING 03H 56′ 18” + 00H 24′ 58” 24 23 (CZE) JAN BRABEC STROJRENT RACING 03H 59′ 49” + 00H 28′ 29” 25 49 (ZAF) BRADLEY COX BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM 04H 00′ 55” + 00H 29′ 35” 26 7 (CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA MONSTER ENERGY HONDA 04H 02′ 13” + 00H 30′ 53” 27 20 (IND) HARITH NOAH KOITHA VEETTIL SHERCO TVS RALLY FACTORY 04H 03′ 15” + 00H 31′ 55” A total of 144 riders completed the course on Jan 3. -
Day 2: The complete Dakar 2022 story; Mason Klein, Nasser Al-Attiyah shine
Ha’il (Saudi Arabia) 2 Jan. 2022: Lone rider representing INDIA successfully completed Day 2. Read Harith Noah story here.
Focus
After the overnight rain over Ha’il and northern Saudi Arabia, mist enveloped the area as the first competitors departed the bivouac in the wee hours. The second day’s programme of the 44th Dakar Rally gave pride of place to sand amid mountains reaching up to 1,500 masl and famous around the globe for their rock art. While there were parts with stones, sandy tracks made up 85% of the special, including 4% of dunes.
Transposed to the 333 km timed sector, these figures packed a real punch! As David Castera, Clerk of the Course, had underlined at the previous day’s briefing, the competitors had to be ready for the chips to come down. Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz can only agree (see A crushing blow). The two Audi stars got a rude awakening.
Outlines
Daniel Sanders just had to hold his own today —easier said than done, even from the advantageous starting position that he had earned with yesterday’s tour de force. The man from Down Under logically decided to start in 15th place and make full use of the benefits of the new Dakar regulations. He surged past the 14 riders ahead of him to cross the finish line of the special in first place. It will come as no surprise that the GasGas biker posted the best time, 2′07″ faster than Pablo Quintanilla’s. Honda’s Chilean rider is also second in the general standings, where he trails the two-time stage winner by 3′07″.
Further back, Matthias Walkner conceded over 10 minutes as many other favourites made mistakes fatal to their title prospects: Kevin Benavides lost 36 minutes, Joan Barreda, 41, Toby Price, 47 and “Nacho” Cornejo, 53.
Nasser Al-Attiyah crushed the opposition after starting in tenth place, blasting past nine other cars along the way.
The only driver who was able to match his pace, Sébastien Loeb, made the sensible choice to stick to Al-Attiyah and Baumel’s slipstream and benefit from their flawless navigation. The Qatari leader has already built up a 12-minute margin over Loeb and, while Martin Prokop managed to limit the damage, the rest of the field were left licking their wounds. Audi’s Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz are no longer even in contention (see A crushing blow).
The lightweight prototype category saw a new episode of the Seth Quintero Show, but things are still pretty close, with “Chaleco” López just 1′58″ behind the young American in the general standings. The SSV lead went from Pole to Pole as Aron Domżała won the stage and took over the pole position from Marek Goczał. Blue remains the colour of the week in the truck category, in which title holder Dmitry Sotnikov regained the upper hand over Eduard Nikolaev, but Aleš Loprais placed himself in third place to inject some contrast into the picture.
Performance of the Day
His surname may mean “small” in German, but Mason Klein is one of the greats! The Austrians at KTM have already added his name to their watch list in bold. The American, who celebrated his twentieth birthday by winning the Rally2 category in Morocco last October, his first overseas campaign, joined the big league today after finishing fourth, ahead of many big names.
Ecstatic at the “awesome” experience he had just gone through, once at the finish line, the rookie even explained how he had noticed some navigation errors by the bikers ahead of him and decided not to follow them in a show of exceptional maturity and audacity. The rider now sitting in fifth place overall has been surfing the deserts back home in California since he was twelve.
The desert is his stomping ground. Finishing as the top rookie in 2020 changed his life. His friend, countryman and training buddy, Skyler Howes, was signed by Husqvarna shortly afterwards. He names him his “mentor” without a second thought. Despite his performance today, he revealed a chink in his armour: “I’m definitely not in my element on the dunes”. It’s just a matter of time, kid!
Star of the Day
Third in the SSV standings and winner of a stage last year, Aron Domżała climbed back on top of the podium at the end of stage 1B of the 44th Dakar. As well as claiming his third career win in the most prestigious rally raid on Earth, the Can-Am driver pulled level with Łukasz Łaskawiec as the joint-second most prolific Polish Dakar stage winner, for a total of 15 Polish victories. Quad rider Rafał Sonik (6 stages), the only Polish Dakar champion to date, tops the record table. Krzysztof Hołowczyc (1), who finished on the bottom step of the car podium in 2015, is also a member of this select group.
World RallyRaid Championship
Nasser Al-Attiyah has an insatiable appetite in winter as in summer. His competitive spirit has catapulted him to five victories in the World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies (2008, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2021), of which he is the joint record holder with Jean-Louis Schlesser.
He is tackling the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship with the same panache. In Ha’il, he became the first competitor to score points in the competition. His tally of 5 points give him a razor-thin margin on Sébastien Loeb. At the same time, history may remember that two Argentinian racers, both of which are making their Dakar comeback in the first year of the W2RC after four years on the sidelines, are also among the first point scorers: Lucio Álvarez, with 3, and Sebastián Halpern, with 1.
Classic Freeze Frame
The France-Spain derby is under way! The two most numerous contingents in the Dakar Classic, with 44 French vehicles and 37 from the other side of the Pyrenees, are firmly ensconced in the top 10 and tied 1 for 1 after the first stage. Xavier Pina Garnatcha and Sergi Giralt Valero’s HDJ 80, one of 41 in the field, which opened their account in Ha’il, with the same points as the French Panagiotis couple’s Protruck, which conquered the first half of the stage between Jeddah and Ha’il yesterday.
Stéphane Lamarre, tenth in the inaugural edition of the Dakar Classic, let his Porsche 911 East Africa’s acceleration do the talking by entering the repair area. He climbed from sixth to third place, on the same points as another French couple in a Protruck, the Galpins, racing for Team FJ, the importer of Nascar to Europe, in fourth place. Also tied on points, but in fifth place, their compatriots Jean-Michel Gayte and Maxime Vial are ready to pounce in their Mitsubishi Pajero. Follow the return leg on the Saudi sand tomorrow!
Quote of Day 2 – Jan 2
Sébastien Loeb: “Everything turned out fine”
Loeb’s wide tyres did not save him from two punctures, but he put in a solid performance in second place.
“It really wasn’t simple, we messed up and started with two punctures before the neutralisation. There was no room for error in the second part. Then Nasser caught up with us, I was keeping it cool behind him. It was a bit easier with fewer rocks, so I thought we could keep going at a high pace and we made it to the finish in much better shape than at the neutralisation. Both Nasser and Matthieu are strong. You can see it from behind them….”
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Harith Noah completes Stage 1b successfully in 34th overall
Ha’il (Saudi Arabia), 2 Jan. 2022: Sherco TVS Rally Factory team rider Harith Noah KV began well and passed the first tough test successfully, completing Stage 1b, a special section of 333 km, and finished the Day at 34st place in the Moto RallyGP class here on Sunday. Teammate Lorenzo Santolino had a brilliant day finishing seventh overall while the next best from the Indian team, Hero, was youngster Aaron Mare, who put in a stunning performance to take 11th ranking. Daniels Sanders of Gas Gas team, won the stage for the second day running.
The other Sherco rider R Goncalves had a poor day but survived to finish the Day 2 course in 70st place. Meanwhile, Hero MotoSports Team Rally top rider Joaquim Rodrigues, too, suffered issues and finished the day in overall 30th place.
The 28-year from Kerala, Noah, the only rider to represent India, began on an aggressive note and kept himself in the top-30 riders but lost time in the last two sections but did improve a place from the 35th that he logged in the qualifying Stage 1A, which was a short 19-km special. He clocked 5hrs, 37min, 20sec. for the 333-km special section and ran a total of 514km course, incluing transpot section from Ha’il to Ha’il.
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Hero MotoSports team begins well; JRod 11th; Aaron 16th
Hail, 1 Jan. 2022: Hero MotoSports Team Rally begn their campaign with a 19-km Qualifying stage with Joaquim Rodrigues finishing a creditable 11th position to be able to select his starting position for the Stage 1b, when the Rally begins in right earnest with a 333-km long Special Section. The other Hero team member, Aaron Maré missed the mark narrowly, but finished Day 1 and Stage 1A in a remarkable 16th position in the Rally GP class of the Bikes section here in Hail, Saudi Arabia.
This edition of the Dakar Rally also marks the beginning of the newly announced FIA and FIM World Rally-raid Championships for cross-country rallying. Nicknamed #W2RC, the championship kicks off with the crown jewel Dakar, and aims to establish a calendar for the year that includes the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March, Rally Kazakhstan in April, Andalucía Rally in June, and ends with the Rallye Du Maroc in October 2022.
This new consolidation of top rallies is being considered a historic move, one which offers better regulations and solutions for the sustainable, long-term development of the Rally-Raid discipline, participating teams, manufacturers and riders.
The competitors in motorcycle category are subdivided into multiple classes as per the new championship format for #W2RC. The Hero MotoSports riders are participating in the premier class, named Rally GP, which comprises the top 27 riders in the championship. The other classes are Rally2, Rally3 and the Originals, a press release from Hero MotoSports said.
The short Qualifying stage, set in the middle of a long liaison between Jeddah and Ha’il, gave the top 15 finishers in the Rally GP Class an opportunity to choose their starting positions for the first stage on January 2.
With the administrative and technical scrutiny and the Covid-19 tests completed already, the participants rolled-off from the ceremonial podium at Ha’il on January 1 at 4pm IST, marking the official beginning of their Dakar 2022 campaign.
The first stage (1b) on Jan 2, of the Dakar Rally, will take the riders on a 513-km loop around Ha’il, with a 333-km long special. Here, the riders will get their first taste of the treacherous terrain, typical of the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
Wolfgang Fischer, Team Manager, Hero MotoSports Team Rally:
“The Dakar 2022 is not only the start of the new racing season but also of a new powerful World Championship which pushes the rally sport to a new level in many aspects. After a busy season participating in many races, we have put in consistent efforts to bring our riders and machines up to the next level of competitiveness and we look forward to proving this growth over the next two weeks.
JRod, the ever-constant in our team since the start in 2016, is well prepared for the Dakar. Franco and Sebastian, after having shown very promising results throughout 2021 unfortunately met with injuries that they have not recuperated from in time for the Dakar. CS Santosh is also still recovering from his crash at the previous Dakar.
In Aaron Maré we are happy to have a strong last-minute replacement. I am sure that he will deliver his best along with Joaquim to keep the Hero MotoSports flag flying high. We are grateful to be able to show our competence in this fascinating competition even during these difficult times. Greetings and best wishes for the New Year to all our fans around the world!”Joaquim Rodrigues:
“The qualifying stage today was not as easy as I expected. I started the stage strong, though the arm-pump made it difficult for me to maintain a good hold on the bike. Anyhow, I rode safe, aiming to bring the bike back to the finish line. Yet, I am happy that we finished in a good position. This was only the qualifying stage; we have a long way to go.”
Aaron Maré:
“Due to the reverse starting order today, I entered the race much later than the other competitors. I had a rough day, with the track being quite torn up and rocky. I took it easy and hoped to make it just outside the top 15 so that I have a better starting position tomorrow. I’m happy with the day.”
Provisional Rankings – Qualifying Stage (Rally GP Class)
1. Daniel Sanders Gas Gas Factory Team 55m 30s
2. Pablo Quintanilla Monster Energy Honda Team + 01m 00s
3. Ross Branch Monster Energy Honda Team + 01m 55s
4. Kevin Benavides Red Bull KTM Factory Team + 02m 00s
11. Joaquim Rodrigues Hero MotoSports Team Rally + 03m 05s
16. Aaron Maré Hero MotoSports Team Rally + 06m 30s
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fmsci Indian Motorsports Champions Lists: Yearwise
This article is work in progress: All the Indian champions in Motorsports over the years will be listed here. Watch out this space!
2021: List of fmsci Indian Motorsports Champions for year 2021 *TO BE Completed. Only four Nationals are completed. Year extended till 31 March 2022 by fmsci.
2021 List of fmsci Indian Motorsports Champions for year 2021
2020: List of fmsci Indian Motorsports Champions for year 2020
