Hero claims podium in Abu Dhabi
THE 2022 Dakar Rally will commence from the first week of January next year, and as a precursor to the Dakar rally, Hero MotoSports participated in the recently concluded Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to ensure its readiness for the Saudi Arabia rally. And the riders did not disappoint, as Joaquim Rodrigues finished P5 on the stage, which allowed him to finish P3 in the overall standings at the end of the rally. This also marks the first podium finish for J-Rod in the FIM CrossCountry Rallies World Championship. Other Hero riders Sebastian Buhler and Franco Caimi were out of the rally as Buhler suffered an injury in Stage 4 and Caimi was out in Stage 2 after his Hero 450 Rally bike ran into some technical problems. The last stage of the rally tested the riders with another 216km of racing, taking the total race distance to over 1,350km in five days. Indian ace rider, CS Santosh, was cleared fit after the rally, and is currently preparing for the Dakar in Bengaluru, and will join the team soon. Finishing the final stage in second behind Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Yamaha Rally) was enough to see Matthias
Walkner (Red Bull KTM Factory) walk away as the overall victor. Ross Branch finished as third fastest. With that said, the next rally for the team is the Dakar 2022. This is the last rally event for the 2021 season as the Hero MotoSports Team Rally now gears up for the gruelling 2022 Dakar Rally scheduled in January. The rally heads back to Saudi Arabia and will take place between January 2-14, 2022. The next couple of weeks will be all about preparing for Dakar for the team, its riders and machines.