INDIA in F1

Category: Dakar Rally

  • TVS Racing’s Aravind KP 39th after 575-km Stage 8: Lone Indian left in Dakar Rally 2019

    TVS Racing’s Aravind KP 39th after 575-km Stage 8: Lone Indian left in Dakar Rally 2019

    WALKNER Matthias (Aut); KTM Factory Team during the Dakar 2019 Stage 8. Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI

    Pisco, 15 Jan 2019: In what has been a very successful day for the Sherco TVS Rally Factory team, all the three remaining riders finished another demanding stage with the lone Indian rider Aravind KP improving his overall position with a creditable 39th position overcoming the 575-km section from San Juan de Marcona to Pisco with a cool head and challenging navigation in the Moto section of the Dakar Rally 2019 on Tuesday. Aravind continues to impress with his consistency and finished the stage without any hiccups. He battled with low visibility initially but was able to ride smoothly post the refuelling point into the dunes.

    He clocked 5 hours, 30 minutes and 10 seconds and is in 39th position after Stage 8 as Dakar Rally comes to the closing stages with only two stages remaining. The other two Sherco TVS riders, the Metge brothers, had one more successful day finishing in 11th and 16th places.

     

    Aravind KP (Stage 7) of Sherco TVS team. Image courtesy Twitter @TVS_Racing

    While elder brother Michael timed 4:13.36 for his 11th Adrien clocked 4:27.52 for 16th as they finished the tough 575 km stage dubbed as `Super Ica’. At 360 kilometres, the timed special was the longest of the event and took competitors over fast, open pistes for the first half, before once again challenging them with the mountainous sand dunes of the Ica desert. In the overall standings, Michael is 24th and Adrien is 26th.

    Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team conquered Stage 8 with a strong performance by all riders despite multiple challenges. The team had to find their way through dense fog at the start point wherein the visibility dropped to as low as 5 metres. This was just the beginning of an eventful day for the team as after the fog, they had to battle against the dust left behind by the cars and trucks. The cars and trucks had opened the race ahead of the bikes in Stage 8. This was the longest special stage of 360 km in this edition of Dakar.

    Michael Metge was at his best despite difficult weather conditions and finished the stage in the 10th position. Michael picked up his pace once he hit the sand dunes and his overall ranking is now at 24th. Adrien finished Stage 8 in 14th position despite a minor wrist injury. His strong show has taken him to the 26th position (overall).

    Aravind KP says, “The low visibility at the start was a concern for me and I didn’t take any chances. I really enjoyed my ride once I hit the dunes and managed to improve my rankings. It was a very long stage and I am happy to have completed it.”

    The team will ride through a loop in Pisco in the next stage, which is also the penultimate stage for Dakar 2019.

    Oriol Mena and Joacquim Rodriques of Hero MotoSports Team Rally finished in 12th and 13th positions respectively after Stage 8. Mena took 4hrs 20.03 while Rodriques came home in 4:21.49. Indian rider CS Santosh crashed out in Stage 6 and made his exit from Dakar Rally 2019 leaving Aravind of TVS Racing the lone Indian in the field. In the overall standings, Mena is 11th while Rodriques is 18th.

    Matthias Walkner of KTM Factory Racing has claimed his second stage win of the 2019 Dakar Rally. Pablo Quintanilla of Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing team was second with third fastest going to Toby Price, also of KTM,who now sits at the top of the provisional overall standings with two stages left to contest.

    On the return journey to Pisco, the riders and drivers were served up a cocktail of sand for 360 km, before they get the chance to savour a flavoursome Pisco Sour! The day started with fesh-fesh and was followed by an intermittence of beaches for almost 80 kilometres. Before encountering the genuine chains of dunes to be crossed to reach the finishing line of the special, care had to be taken to avoid stalling in the formidable “subida de los burros”. The dunes of Ica, already partially visited during stage two, were more comprehensively explored, with the aim of submitting the participants to the most demanding of ascensions and descents, for example at the 300-kilometre mark on the special. To finish the route, a final portion of off-track racing required maximum awareness from the co-pilots.

    Provisional results after Stage 8:

    1. Mathias Walkner, KTM Factory Racing, 3 hours, 55 minutes, 25 seconds;
    2. Pablo Quintanilla, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory, 3:56:10;
    3. Toby Price, KTM Factory Racing, 3:56:38; 11.Michael Metge, Sherco TVS Rally Factory team, 4:13:36;

    12.Oriol Mena, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, 4:20:03;

    1. Joaquim Rodriques, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, 4:21:49;16. Adrien Metge, Sherco TVS Rally Factory team, 4:27:52;

    39.Aravind Prabhakar, Sherco TVS Rally Factory team, 5:30:10.

     

  • Aravind KP completes Stage 7 with 47th overall: Dakar Rally

    Aravind KP completes Stage 7 with 47th overall: Dakar Rally

    Aravind KP image courtesy @TVS_Racing twitter handle

    San Juan de Marcona, 15 Jan 2019: Visitors to San Juan de Marcona are usually looking for the best plan to discover the Nazca Lines. Stage 7 of the Dakar was completely different, with an assortment of difficulties to fray the nerves of all types of competitors. To add to this, the lone Indian survivor Aravind KP, had navigational issues. But he managed to overcome all the hurdles and accelerated his progress to the top-50 with a brilliant run as the fast men were in their element in the fast off-road sectors of the first 100 kilometres, only to suffer in the fesh-fesh and on the rough tracks on a plateau halfway through the stage.

    For the next 50 kilometres, the focus of Aravind, the Sherco TVS Rally Facotory team rider, switched to the dune surfers, with the Duna Grande and Duna Argentina sectors, later to transition to faster stretches near the end of the stage… all while dodging the navigational pitfalls in the vicinity of San Juan. He did a tremendous job to stay on course even as his teammates, the Metge brothers had a top-15 finish.

    Aravind, once again was in his elements and he put in a steady effort to end the day 46th. The Indian is now in 47th in the main standings after the 387 km of Stage 7. He was 46th in the Stage Classification.

  • Arvind KP rides brilliantly to finish Stage 6: Dakar Rally

    Arvind KP rides brilliantly to finish Stage 6: Dakar Rally

    Lorenzo Santolino is airlifted for treatment. A Dakar Rally image

    San Juan de Marcona, 14 Jan 2019: After a long wait of about 20 minutes, at 2.20am (IST) Arvind Prabhakar’s time was up on the Dakar site after the previous rider finished the WayPoint 7 and it was only a matter of time that Aravind KP finished the tough and challenging Stage 6 838 km with an impressive time. The Sherco TVS Rally Factory team rider was doing extremely well before losing time in the fag end. Nevertheless, he finished overall 48th, his bike number after a brilliant 44th in the stage classification.

    Meanwhile, his teammate, the top-flying rookie rider Lorenzo Santolino bowed out of the Dakar 2019, 33km into the stage as he was air-lifted for medical attention. The Sherco-TVS rider was one of the breakout stars of the Dakar so far, with his best-ever finish to the day coming just two days prior on Stage 5. He had to be airlifted to Lima where further assessment of his injuries will take place.

    The team had a day to forget with just a glimmer of hope coming from KP Aravind who rode extremely well to finish the day 44th, climbing up quite a few spots in the overall rankings. He is currently 48th and should aim to climb a few more spots. Michael was the better of the two Metge brothers finishing the day in 31st. That did bump him down a number of positions in the overall standings, to 36th in fact, but not as much as his brother Adrien who had a miserable day at the office. Adrien ended the day at 77th spot, which has seen him plummet down the overall standings to 33rd.

    Hero MotoSports had no casualties to report but their standings too were slightly hampered in the overall stage progression. Since Lorenzo’s crash, Oriol Mena has taken over as the top rider from an Indian team. He was 20th over the course of the day which has seen him slide down a spot in the overall rankings, to 13th. The day started off strongly for his teammate Joaquim Rodrigues but he stopped to help Oriol out as the latter ran his fuel tank dry. He had to rebuild the aux tank and thus finished the day in 30th. He is 25th in the overall tally now. Hero hopes both its riders will challenge for better results in the days to come.

     

  • Sherco TVS Rally team in stunning 3rd place, Aravind 53rd, Santosh crashes out: Dakar Stage 5

    Sherco TVS Rally team in stunning 3rd place, Aravind 53rd, Santosh crashes out: Dakar Stage 5

    Sam Sunderland tops Moto section after Stage 5. A Red Bull KTM image

    Arequipa, 11 Jan 2019: Aravind Prabhakar of Sherco TVS Rally Factory team just crossed the line finishing the Stage 5 with a splendid job to finish in 53rd place overall, after he broke into the top-50 for the first time in fifth stage. But top Indian rider CS Santosh crashed out in the tough fifth stage.

    Lorenzo Santolino is in 3rd place. In the Moto Section of the Dakar Rally 2019, Sherco TVS Rally Factory team member Lorenzo hit the highest spot in the most difficult section of 776-stage Fifth Stage to put the Indian team on a high pedestal.

    He clocked 4 hours 15.48sec and just 4 minutes away from the leader on the top spot. Other Indian team riders Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodriques are in 16th and 18th places, riding for Hero MotoSports Team Rally.

    Adrien Metge and Michael Metge are in 24th and 29th places, respectively. The two Sherco TVS riders have displayed tremendous show to bein the top-30 on a stage which is one of the toughest in the Dakar 2019.

    The riders and drivers of the Dakar will have fully deserved their rest day, on completion of the 5th stage, which was made up of the longest and most varied timed sections on the rally.

    The start took place for everyone in Tacna, which is the furthest point from Lima that the riders and drivers have reached this year. They started the journey back to the Peruvian capital by crossing a long zone of fesh-fesh before tackling the first tracks of the day, winding through sumptuous canyons, much to the delight of photographers and skid enthusiasts.

    The long first portion came to a close in the dunes of Ilo, where the bikes and quads experienced a double dose of sand. In the meantime, the cars, SxS and trucks got to grips with a second part of the special, made up of 137 extra kilometres, with the formidable fesh-fesh already visited the day before on the menu, a terrain for the brave!

    After a discrete start to the rally, Sam Sunderland reminded everyone of the reasons why he won the Dakar in 2017. The official KTM rider managed to extricate himself from a closely fought battle at the forefront of the stage to pick up his first victory of the year and close in to less than one minute from Ricky Brabec in the general standings. Sébastien Loeb also performed masterfully in the car race to take his second stage victory since the start in Lima, finishing more than 10 minutes ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah who reinforced his leadership of the general standings. Stéphane Peterhansel now trails the Qatari by 24 minutes. In the quad category, NicolásCavigliasso continues to ride a dream Dakar with another incontestable triumph, pushing his lead in the general standings on to almost 50 minutes and allowing him to approach the second half of the rally in peace of mind. However, it is a much closer affair in the truck race following another victory for Eduard Nikolaev who is still within reach for his team-mates Dmitry Sotnikov and AndreyKarginov in the general standings.

    Saturday January 12 is a rest day for all 2019 Dakar Rally competitors. Riders will relax in Arequipa for the day before heading out to the bivouac on Saturday evening to prepare for Sunday’s stage six that will take them back to San Juan de Marcona.

    Provisional Results Stage Five – 2019 Dakar Rally

    1. Sam Sunderland (GBR), KTM, 4:11:48
    2. Xavier de Soultrait (FRA), Yamaha, 4:15:11 +3:23
    3. Lorenzo Santolino (ESP), Sherco, 4:15:48 +4:00
    4. Adrien van Beveren (FRA), Yamaha, 4:16:14 +4:26
    5. Andrew Short (USA), Husqvarna, 4:16:24 +4:36

  • CS Santosh in 41st position, Aravind KP in 78th after 511-km of Stage 4

    Moquegua (Peru), 11 Jan 2019: Sherco TVS Rally Team is vying with Hero MotoSports Team Rally and the battle between the Indian teams seem to have tilted, only if it is for a short tiem, in favour of TVS, as TVS’ Lorenzo Santolino beat Oriol Mena to take the top-10 spot pushing the Hero to 11th spot which can be taken again anytime.

    After the 511-KM Stage 4, the riders are leaving San Juan de Marcona to fight more dunes and sandy terrain to Moquegua for the Stage 5.

    Micheal Metge is in 17th place after the Stage 4 while his brother Adrien Metge is in 21st place. So all the three Sherco TVS bikes are on target and the Indian rider KP Aravind is on 78th place.

    CS Santosh of Hero MotoSports Team Rally is in 51st position after Sage 4.

  • “Win or lose, you always learn something on a Dakar”

    “Win or lose, you always learn something on a Dakar”

    Brabec on Stage 1 from Lima to Pisco. The  image by Antonin Vincent

    From growing up in California to the Dakar tracks via years in BMX, Ricky Brabec has reached the heights of glory at break-neck speed. He made his Dakar debut in 2016 at the age of 24 with an already long list of triumphs to his credit. This son of biker parents had won nearly everything there is to win in the US, from the Baja 1000 to Baja 500, the Vegas to Reno and off course the off-road title. Spotted by the HRC Honda team, he set off on an international career with the Dakar as the focal point. The learning process as been long but promising. Ninth in his first participation in South America, he went on to claim his first stage win the following year at Uyuni. But on the Dakar, one also has to learn from one’s setbacks and Brabec mustn’t forget the past two editions on which he did not finish. It is hard to say where he slots in for this his fourth Dakar, especially alongside title contender teammates Kevin Benavides, who finished second last year and the eternally unlucky Joan Barreda. This season, the strapping Californian took a podium result in the Morocco Rally, which saw him to 5th place in the FIM World Championship. Now, he just has to finish the Dakar, and silence his detractors.

    “’I’ve always done BMX and there has always been a bike in a corner of the house. I started in off-road in 2007 and I quickly loved it. I knew I wanted to succeed. By watching videos, I saw who were the best and the fastest and I soon wanted to be like them and race against them. I learned the past few years and now I know what to do. Long distances do not scare me, I’m used to it. Each race is an opportunity to learn before going on to the next. Whether you win or lose, you always learn something.

  • Both Indian riders CS Santosh and Aravind KP safely complete the challenging Stage 3: Dakar Rally 2019

    Both Indian riders CS Santosh and Aravind KP safely complete the challenging Stage 3: Dakar Rally 2019

    Oriol Mena rides into top-10 after Stage3. Photo by Antonin Vincent

    San Juan de Marcona (Peru), 10 Jan 2019: On a highly-challenging Stage 3 of the 2019 Dakar Rally, Hero MotoSports Team Rally rider Oriol Mena has ridden an excellent 8th place, moving himself to the top-10 in the provisional overall standings on Wednesday after the end of the 798-km tough terrain run.

    Lorenzo Santolino of Sherco TVS Rally Factory team who also went into top-10 in the day, finally finished the Stage 3 in 11th place. Teammates Michael Metge was in 13 and his brother Adrien Metge was 18th.

    Joaquim Rodriques of Hero MotoSports finished the day and Stage 3 in 46th place while the top Indian rider Santosh CS, also riding for Hero, was place 64th after the tough and challenging stage three. “Today’s day started really good for me and I rode with really good feeling up until km 70 after which I had problems with my clutch. I lost a ton of time but I’m happy to have made it back to the team. I finally got 37th for the day,” said Santosh about the Day 2 performance in his social media post.

    Day 2 action of Aravind KP image courtesy Twitter @TVS_Racing

    The other Indian and the fourth Sherco TVS rider, Aravind KP, focussed on navigation with a keen intent to finish the stage, ended up 81 after Stage 3 even as 124 riders completed the stage.

    The rally will now move to the Marathon stage, where no assistance is allowed overnight and the competitors will be left to their own devices and faculties to manage their bikes and themselves.

    Recapping the day, Santosh said, ”It was an extremely difficult stage, throwing a fair share of challenges. I had the wrong lens on for today’s stage and it set me up for the struggle for most of the first part. So, I decided to ride without my goggles, which was really difficult to do. Had a few crashes, lost my way around a waypoint, so in all a very tough day. I am glad to have seen the back of it and still be in the race. ”

     

  • Aravind KP 60th after Second Stage while Santosh slips to 37th: Dakar Rally 2019

    Aravind KP 60th after Second Stage while Santosh slips to 37th: Dakar Rally 2019

    Aravind KP during the first stage to Pisco on Monday. A Sherco TVS image

    Pisco (Peru), 8 Jan 2019: Aravind KP of Sherco TVS Rally Factory team did a commendable job in the 553-km Second Stage of the Moto section of the Dakar Rally 2019 as he nudged ahead with a steady ride to occupy 60th position on Tuesday. After the first stage he was in 71st position.

    Meanwhile, CS Santosh of Hero Motosports Team Rally had a tough second stage but managed to stay on course as he slipped to 37th place with a time of 4 hours, 06 minutes and 20 seconds.

    Both the Indian teams saw their riders in the top-20 with Sherco TVS team’s Lorenzo Santolino and Adrien Metge in 14th and 15th positions respectively while Oriol Mena of Hero Motosports Team followed them in 16th place. Santolino did 3:43.34 while Adrien clocked 3:45.33. Oriol Mena timed 3:46.51.

    Joaquim Rodriques of Hero Motosports is in 34th place (4:03.04). Michael Metgi of Sherco TVS slipped to 69th clocking 5:05.29.

    Here is a tweet by senior motorsports editor Sirish Chandran

     

  • Loeb by a whisker: Dakar Rally Second Stage

    Pisco (Peru), 8 Jan 2019: A brief report of the Dakar Rally 2019 after the second stage on Tuesday.

    Focus
    The second longest stage of the rally varied in aspect, with an alternation of dunes, sandy tracks and potions of beaches. Once they had made it passed the difficulties of Ica’s dunes, the riders and drivers headed to the Pacific Ocean and followed the coast for one hundred kilometres, over small dunes and sandy beaches. A quicker section heading north was perfectly utilised by Sébastien Loeb, who managed to keep sufficient pace in the last 50 kilometres through the dunes of Ocucaje, just before the finishing line of the special.

    The essentials

    After caution the day before, Sébastien Loeb unleashed his talent to let the lion on his Peugeot 3008 roar this Tuesday on the long special finishing in San Juan de Marcona. The man from Alsace did not make the slightest mistake and held out against the amazing comeback by Nani Roma, who was timed at just 8 seconds behind Loeb on the finishing line. In 4th place, Giniel de Villiers took command of the general standings in which Stéphane Peterhansel plummeted downwards after losing almost 20 minutes stuck in a dune. Such difficulties were brilliantly negotiated by Chaleco López for only his second stage in an SxS, allowing him to add to the excellent roll of honour (3rd overall in 2013 and 2014) which he started on a bike, 5 years after his last appearance on the Dakar. Matthias Walkner can also already boast an improved victory count. The Austrian was faithful to his role as title holder and beat Ricky Brabec at the death by just 22 seconds at the end of a superb duel between the two men throughout the stage. In 3rd, Joan Barreda still leads the general standings. In the quad race, the same classification is heavily dominated by Nicolás Cavigliasso thanks to the Argentinean rider’s second successive stage win. In the truck race, there were also two stage wins in a row, as Eduard Nikolaev triumphed again behind the wheel of his Kamaz.

    Performance of the day

    For his second Dakar after an impressive showing in 2016 and a fine top 10 finish at the outcome, Harry Hunt today showed that he possesses pure talent. The Englishman took time to return to his best level after a neck injury in late 2016, but today demonstrated that he perfectly knows how to handle the Peugeot 3008 DKR Maxi entrusted to him this year as a team-mate to Sébastien Loeb. Hunt grabbed 9th place in the first stage before improving to finish in 7th position on the first major test of this year’s Dakar. Car manufacturer Peugeot has left the event, but two of its former cars have nonetheless made it into the top 10.

    A crushing blow

    With Adrien Van Beveren’s 7th place, 9 minutes behind the winner, and the 12th position achieved by Xavier de Soultrait, 16 minutes behind Walkner, the Yamaha clan have little to smile about. Both men have not yet seemed able to keep pace with the rhythm imposed by the leading lights of the Honda and KTM teams. For the moment, they are far from reaching their goals. The damage in the general standings is already significant and the two Frenchman will be keen to reverse the trend tomorrow in the dunes around Acari.

    Stat of the day

    2: the number of SxS competitors taking part in the Dakar who have already participated in this category. Almost half of the field are newcomers to the Dakar!

    Quote of the day

    “I got stuck in a really bad place.”

    Stéphane Peterhansel: “For us it was not an easy stage. We started with some electrical problems inside the car: no microphones, no air-conditioning, no wipers, nothing was ok. I lost my concentration a little bit and after I got stuck in a really bad place. We are happy because Cyril stopped for us and pulled us out. In the end we have lost a lot of time, but without the help of Cyril I think we would probably still be in the same place, so it’s ok”.

  • Santosh in creditable 20th after 331km of Stage 1; Aravind 71st: Dakar Rally

    Santosh in creditable 20th after 331km of Stage 1; Aravind 71st: Dakar Rally

    Adrien Metge of Sherco TVS rally team during Stage 1 Lima to Pisco on 7 Jan 2019. Photo by Antonin Vincent

    Lima, 7 Jan 2019: Michael Metge of Sherco TVS Rally team is placed in 12th while Oriol Mena of Hero Motosports Team Rally is in 14th place at the end of Stage 1 after covering a distance of 331km in the Moto section of the Dakar Rally 2019 which began in Peru on Sunday.

    Santosh CS, is standing a creditable 20th after the first leg, and is doing better than his Hero Motosports teammate Joaquim Rodriques who is three places behind him in 23rd place after the first leg.

    Right behind him in 24th and 25th places are the other Indian team members of Sherco TVS Rally Factory team. Adrien Metge is in 24th place while Lorenzo Santolino is in 25th place. The second Indian in the field, Aravind KP, also of Sherco TVS Rally team is going steady in 71st place with the sole aim of finishing the Dakar in his third attempt.

    Santosh took a time of 1 hours 6 minutes and 49 seconds, a difference of 9:13 minutes to the first to cover the 331-km first stage while Aravind took 1hr 24.23 to be classified in 71st place out of a total of 135 participants who were classified after Stage 1.

    Meanwhile, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing have completed a successful stage one of the 2019 Dakar Rally with Sam Sunderland, Toby Price and Matthias Walkner all finishing well inside the top 10. Luciano Benavides put in a solid performance to claim the 15th fastest time of the day with KTM Factory Racing’s Laia Sanz and Mario Patrao placing 31st and 36th respectively.

    Provisional results after Stage 1: Joan Barreda Bort, Monster Energy Honda Team 2019, 57 minutes, 36 seconds; 2. Pablo Quintanilla, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing, 59:10; 3. Ricky Brabec, Monster Energy Honda Team 2019, 1:00.28; 12. Michael Metge, Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team, 1:04.25; 14. Oriol Mena, Hero Motosports Team Rally, 1:04.43; 20. Santosh CS, Hero Motosports Team Rally, 1:06.49; 23. Joaquim Rodriques, Hero Motosports Team Rally, 1: 07.50; 24. Adrien Metge, Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team,  1:07.52; 25. Lorenzo Santolino, Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team, 1:08.29; 71. Aravind Prabhakar, Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team, 1: 24.23.

    edited 8jan19 at 1pm