The only Indian motorsport team to successfully compete at the Dakar Rally, the Hero MotoSports Rally Team, has onboarded three new riders as part of its National Team. Amongst the three is also the first female rider for the team.
Tanika Shanbhag, Karan Kumar, and Arun T will now join Yuva Kumar and Sathyaraj, two of the most experienced riders in the National team, taking the total count to five riders.
Tanika Shanbhag, 20 years old from Satara, Maharashtra, is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s in Business Administration alongside her racing career. She is well on her way to becoming the most-talented female Indian rider after Aishwarya Pissay, who races for TVS.
Karan Kumar hails from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The 23-year-old has experience in Supercross as well as Rally racing formats, while also the winner of Round 3 of the Indian National Rally Championship 2022 (Group B – 260cc class) and is currently running 3rd at the INRC 2022 (up to 260cc class).
23-year-old Arun T is from Haasan, Karnataka, and has had success in both Supercross and Rally disciplines. He is currently leading the Indian National Supercross Championship in the 260cc class. Using this season in Rally as a training season, Arun has been trying out different bike setups in different classes in the championship and achieved a top 5 finish in Group B.
The 5-rider squad will first be seen in action at the opening round of the Indian National Rally Sprint Championship at Bengaluru in the first week of September astride the Hero MotoSports Xpulse Rally 200 and the Hero Xpulse 200 4V.
Wolfgang Fischer, Team Manager, Hero MotoSports Team Rally said, “These three riders were chosen from a large talent pool after multiple evaluations by our national team, along with our international team rider – Ross Branch, who was in India last month. I am confident that with their consistent track records they will take our competitiveness up several notches. Tanika is the first woman rider to join our team, and I am sure this will be the first of many. I congratulate the new members and wish them a successful journey with Hero MotoSports Team Rally.”