Aravind KP to Make His Dakar Debut With Sherco-TVS Rally Team

TVS Racing has announced that Aravind KP will be a part of the TVS-Sherco Rally Factory team at the Dakar rally next year. The 31-year-old has become the second Indian rider (after CS Santosh) to make it to the grueling rally and will be riding with the Sherco-TVS rally team in the 2017 season. The rider has been a part of TVS Racing for ten years now and will mark his debut at the world's toughest cross-country rally that spans for 9000 km.

Aravind KP with the RTR 450 FX

Aravind KP starting racing at the age of 19 in 2005 and has been proving his capabilities on the bike and track at national and international events ever since. TVS Racing spotted the talent at the 2006 Gulf Dirt Track National Championship and the young rider has since then won 15 National Championships in Dirt track, Rallies and Motocross. He also won the Sri Lanka Motocross Championship in 2011.

Aravind has been with the rally format of racing for the past two-three years and it commendable for TVS to back him up for the complete journey. The Indian manufacturer is the technical and financial partner of Sherco Racing and made its first Dakar appearance last year, becoming the first Indian manufacturer to do so.

The Sherco-TVS RTR 450 FX will see several upgrades ahead of the next Dakar rally

For the remainder of the year, Aravind along with Sherco and TVS will be providing inputs to the R&D division in a bid to improve the RTR 450 FX rally motorcycle further ahead of the Dakar rally. Commenting on the rally bike that was showcased at the event, Aravind said, "The components on the bike are going to be different, but definitely will offer more power and will definitely handle much better."

For now, Aravind KP is preparing for the Rally of Morocco that is scheduled in October this year and will play a crucial role in the training process for the Indian rider ahead of Dakar. The Bangalore based rider's training routine will now include spending 8 hours a day on the bike. Other than that, the Sherco-TVS rally team has lined up a training programme to further hone his skills.

Aravind KP will be participating in Rally of Morocco in October this year

Aravind also spoke about improving his navigation skills, which will only add to his riding abilities and is equally important given the format of cross-country rally. The Dakar rally involves navigation road books which needs to be configured to the metre, unlike other rallies that use electronic navigation devices. "The Morocco rally will set a benchmark for me in terms of where I stand in navigation apart from just riding," he added.

The 35th edition of Dakar will commence on January 5, 2017 and end on January 20 after 15 stages of competition conversing through Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina, covering a total distance of over 9000 km. Around 450 vehicles across 4 classes will be participating in the event, but it will be interesting to see how many actually make it to the finish line.