2020 Dakar Rally has commenced and this time in Saudi Arabia instead of North America. The first stage culminated on Sunday with both the Indian contingencies finishing strong in the top 15 in the motorcycle category. Sherco TVS Rally Factory team’s Adrien Metge managed a good finish at P15 at the end of the first stage while Johnny Aubert, Lorenzo Santolino, and Harith Noah finished the stage at P22, P25, P111, respectively. Hero MotoSports Team Rally rode with caution to avoid errors in the very first stage and Paulo Goncalves finished the stage in 12th place, Sebastian Buhler in 31st and CS Santosh in 39th place. However, Joaquim Rodrigues suffered an unfortunate mechanical problem in his bike that forced him to forfeit the stage.
The first stage of Dakar 2020 stretched from Jeddah to Al Wajh including 433 km of racing and 319 km special. The race becomes intense on Monday as the team rides from Al Wajh to Neom after riding 367 km of special in stage 2.
Hero MotorSports’ Paulo rode in his trademark style, cautious to begin with and then raking up some good pace in the second half. Sebastian Buhler had to make a small additional run to catch a waypoint while Santosh had his first taste of the Saudi sands with a couple of minor crashes but overall, did a good stage to climb up some ranks from his starting position.
Joaquim Rodrigues will try for a restart today, pending permissions from the competitors department and the recovery of the bike, becoming the first competitor of the rally to avail the newly introduced “Wild Card” rule. As per the rule, he will now be considered out of contention for an overall result, but remains in the competition for the stage results.
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The stage took the rally from Jeddah to Al Wajh for a total run of 752 km which included the special stage of 319 km and provided a glimpse of everything that makes up this rally in quick succession – navigation, fast and winding off-piste, dunes, trials and stones – a stage truly worthy of being an opening stage of the Dakar 2020.
Stage 2 begins today from Al Wajh and move to Neom, continuing along the Red Sea, for a special section of 367 km to be done on the clock.
