2017 DAKAR RALLY
All the dope from the toughest rally in the world, where our boys made us proud
WHEN IT COMES to sport, some unbelievable winning streaks have garnered their holders a cult fanatic status. Usain Bolt’s nine Olympic Gold medals (eight now but he did win that one), Sachin Tendulkar’s century of centuries, Roger Federer coming back from injury to win his 18th Grand Slam at the Australian Open against Rafael Nadal, who himself has 14 Grand Slams to his name. These men have etched their names in sporting history with such accolades. A name that should come to mind when you think of motorsport is one Stephane “Mr Dakar” Peterhansel. The moniker that he has earned over his career is so apt as even at the age of 51, he manages to be the top dog at one of the toughest and most challenging events in motorsports – the Dakar rally.
People end up being greats by just coming across the finish line and attain demi-god status if they win one or perhaps are able to repeat their feat. But 13 Dakar wins just hits the ball right out of the park. And the fact that Peterhansel was able to achieve this on two as well as four wheels is commendable.
Another major achievement at the 2017 Dakar rally was KTM's victory, which now means the Austrian team has won 16 consecutive titles making them the most successful team to have taken part. You have to hand it to them as they have managed to do it year in year out, facing strong opponents such as Honda, Yamaha and Husqvarna, yet make it look so easy. They did have a wee bit of nerves in the early part of the 2017 rally but champions do know how to claim their rightful honours. Here’s how the 2017 edition unfolded:
AUTO
The Peugeot DKR 3008 was by far the best machine in the cars class this year. Sure, the Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux had more power but the French manufacturer had made a beautiful prototype racer which was lighter than its Japanese rival. The notso-mini Mini Countryman had received the John Cooper Works treatment for the Mini X-Raid JCW team.
Toyota managed to lure former Dakar winners Nasser Al-Attiyah and Nani Roma from Mini to form a formidable driver line-up with another Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers. The Minis meanwhile were forced to retire Bryce Menzies even before the rally started as he suffered an injury to his shoulder. Hence their factory cars were piloted by WRC rally winner Mikko
Hirvonen, Yazeed Al Rajhi and Orlando Terranova. Peugeot stuck with the same four drivers from the previous year as Peterhansel teamed up with nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb and Dakar greats Carlos Sainz and Cyril Despres.
Toyota did gain the upperhand in the relatively short first day courtesy of Al-Attiyah but the Qatari lost his lead the following day to the Peugeots. To make matters worse, on the third day he damaged his rear suspension while going over a ditch, ending his Dakar journey fairly earlier than expected.
Hence Nani Roma was the only major threat to the Peugoet’s bid for the 2017 title. But the Peugeot drivers were unfazed as Loeb and Peterhansel duelled fiercely for daily honours. Sainz too sought to remain in the hunt but the Spaniard messed up a right-hander and went tumbling down a hill in spectacular fashion. He escaped unhurt but had to curtail his 2017 run.
While Loeb was certainly the faster driver, Peterhansel’s experience paid off as Mr Dakar was able to edge out a couple of minutes in the latter half of the rally over Loeb and maintained his composure to win the Dakar for the 16th time, his seventh in a car. Loeb had certainly worked on his offpiste navigation with his co-driver Daniel Elena massively to prepare for the Dakar and it may have ultimately paid off but Peterhansel was just an ounce better.
Despres completed a Peugeot 1-2-3 albeit him finishing some 33 minutes behind the winner. The Toyotas had to be content with a fourth for Roma (1 hour 16 minutes behind Peterhansel) and fifth for de Villiers (another half hour behind).
Upon winning his 13th Dakar, Peterhansel said, "We were fighting with six or seven drivers at the beginning of the race, and after a while there were only four. During the last week, we were only two – Seb and myself. We fought really strongly and I'm the winner in the end, but it's a small detail. This is the victory of
experience. There were no team orders, it was just a fight between drivers who have the same car. A 14th victory? Why not!"
BIKE
It could have been Honda’s best chance to put an end to KTM’s Dakar title-winning streak as they went on to win over half of the stages that were run in this year’s rally. Their CRF 450 Rally was finally a potent challenger to the KTM’s 450 Rally and their rider line-up was far stronger than KTM’s. The Husqvarnas and the Yamahas were also in the reckoning but none of their riders were able to expose the chink in KTM’s armour as the Honda riders did.
The rally began with ex-Honda, now Sherco TVS Racing pilot Joan Pedrero leading the rally by winning the first stage. But as the rally progressed, the favourites started to filter through to the front of the pack. While 2016 winner Toby Price was the overall leader on the second day, he slipped down the order the next day allowing the Honda of Joan Barreda to take a sizeable lead. In his haste, Price misjudged a river crossing, lost control of his KTM and crashed into the riverbed. He was airlifted and taken to the hospital in La Paz, Bolivia. He had fractured his femur in four parts. Sam Sunderland now became the
lead KTM rider. Sunderland though, had never completed the Dakar in his previous attempts. Neither had his teammate Matthias Walkner, whose 2016 rally ended much like Price's rally this year.
Here’s where Honda made their biggest error. They opted to run light on stage four and fuelled mid-way through the waypoints. The fuelling undertaken was found to be done in an illegal area and hence each of their three riders – Barreda, Ricky Brabec and Michael Metge – were handed a time penalty amounting to an hour each.
Sunderland inherited the lead with Pablo Quintanilla of Husqvarna just twelve seconds behind. His gap to teammate Walkner, then fifth, was just a minute shy of the half hour mark. From there on till the end of the rally, the gap remained in the same margin but crucially Quintanilla, Yamaha’s Adrien van Beveren and satellite KTM rider Gerard Farres dropped behind Walkner.
The Hondas still believed that the Dakar would throw up a surprise like it always does and chased down stage victories on a daily basis. But the time deficit to Sunderland was too much for them to make up on the course, given that few of the stages were cancelled or shortened.
Hence, the young Sunderland held his nerve to join the illustrious list of riders such as Marc Coma and Cyril Despres who have won the Dakar astride a KTM. Walkner made it a factory 1-2 while Farres sealed an all- KTM podium. Beveren fell short by a minute to earn himself third while Barreda brought his Honda home in fifth.
"It's overwhelming. When I crossed the line, the emotion really took over. It's been difficult to stay calm, especially when making navigation mistakes, but we're here, we did it, and I couldn't be any happier. Hopefully we can create some English interest now! I came from a motocross background and with the rally, it's different, it's a long time to stay focused. It has taken some time to change and I've learned the hard way like everybody. I kept fighting and never gave up," said an emotional Sunderland at the podium finish in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
INDIANS AT DAKAR
For the first time in the Dakar's history, there were two Indian riders taking part –C S Santosh and Aravind K P. But what was even more exciting was the fact that they were doing so with two Indian factory teams. C S Santosh got his ticket from Hero MotoSports while Aravind was there with the Sherco TVS Racing team.
Aravind's Dakar campaign was short lived – on Day 1 itself he fractured a bone in his palm after he crashed while trying to overtake a slower rider. He soldiered on, but on Day 4, his injury coupled with the harsh stages tired him out, forcing him to retire.
Santosh's experience of attempting his third Dakar showed as he managed to finish 47th. He was all over the leaderboard during the rally – on Leg 3 he finished 104th, the next day he climbed up to 64th and then 60th. Then he dropped to 87th on account of missing out on two way points. Crucially, he managed to finish every day of the rally and he made it to the finish line in Buenos Aires.
It was a great outing for the manufacturers as well. Joaquim Rodrigues of Hero MotoSports finished 12th, closely missing out on a top 10 finish in his debut outing. Team Sherco TVS also had a great finish with Juan Pedrero Garcia finishing 13th in the overall standings with Adrien Metge 22nd. ⌧