It has been 34 years since TVS made its foray into motorsport. The Bengaluru-based manufacturer has always promoted and developed two-wheeler motorsport in India. So when it announced its decision to partner with French manufacturer Sherco in order to participate in the Dakar Rally, it hardly came as a surprise. The upcoming Dakar Rally is all the more special for the Sherco TVS team as it will mark the first time for the team to field an Indian rider in Aravind KP. Aravind KP has been racing for the TVS Factory team for 10 years now and has 15 National Championships under his belt in dirt track, rallies and motocross events. TVS Racing believes that Aravind KP has the fortitude and ability to tackle the beast that is the Dakar Rally.
(Sherco TVS Dakar complete team)Along with Aravind KP, Sherco TVS also has the likes of Joan Pedrero, an 8-time Dakar veteran, with his best finish being 5th in 2011 and 2013. He has also participated in other Rallies such as 2016 Sardinia Rally which he won and the Morocco Rally, where he finished 7th this year.
(Sherco TVS Dakar Rider- Joan Pedrero Garcia)Then there is Adrien Metge, a 30 year old rider with multiple wins in Enduro and Dirt events. He participated at this year's Dakar for the first time and finished a commendable 11th. Out of the trio of Pedrero, Metge and Aravind KP, Joan is the most experienced. This will be the third Dakar outing for the Sherco TVS partnership. The three riders will be piloting the RTR 450 Dakar Rally motorcycle.
(Sherco TVS RTR 450 Dakar Motorcycle)For Dakar 2017, Aravind KP has been putting himself through the paces at Nimes, France and Llieda, Spain along with his team-mates. Not only Aravind, but his aides, B Selvaraj, the race engineer and R Prakasam, the motorcycle mechanic has been training hard as well. Prakasam has already been in France for over a year now. He got his first taste of Dakar last year, with other riders and this year, he was working closely with Aravind KP at the Oilibya and Baja Aragon Rallies.
(Sherco TVS Dakar Indian Connection)Coming to the Dakar itself, the strategies and on-ground calls will be taken by David Casteu, the manager for the Sherco TVS Dakar Rally team. David is a highly experienced rally racer, having participated in 13 Dakar Rallies, with his latest one in 2016, where he finished 18th. Sherco believes there is none better than David, who knows the extremities of Dakar in and out and will be best placed to take calls.
(Sherco TVS Dakar Rally)The team looks forward to winning a few stages over the course of the 15 days and 10,000km through the countries of Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. Also, the target is to have at least one rider in the top 10 in the first week of the Dakar. The real test will be the second week, wherein the rally gets tougher and after roughing it out in the first week, the riders will be most likely to lose focus and make mistakes. Once the rally comes closer to its end, the rider doing the best, will be asked to focus solely on finishing the rally, pushing wherever he can, while the other two will keep riding as a means of support. We saw this strategy being adopted in the 2015 Dakar, where CS Santosh was riding the KTM Factory Rally Replica motorcycle and finished the Dakar in a commendable 36th position, giving his tyres to his team-mate Marc Coma, who eventually finished first.
While this will be Sherco TVS' third Dakar outing, it will be the first for Aravind KP. We spoke to him at the event and it is easy to see that he is raring to go. He has done his homework and has put in countless hours in getting himself physically and mentally fit for the Dakar. Say the word Dakar and his eyes light up and excitement shines through. We wish him all the very best for his maiden Dakar outing and will keep you posted with updates on the same.
The 2017 Dakar Rally starts on the 2nd January, 2017 from Asuncion, Paraguay and ends in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 14th January, 2017.
