Dakar Rally is undoubtedly 'the' most mentally and physically grueling endurance race in existence, considering all the aspec...
Dakar Rally is undoubtedly 'the' most mentally and physically grueling endurance race in existence, considering all the aspects of the conquest that demands riders’ complete energy, continued focus over the course of the fortnight endeavor. 2013 edition set will be no different since across those 14 stages are 8423 total kilometers (5233 miles) of some of the harshest terrain around, 4146 km (2576 miles) of which will be timed. Equipped with a Road Book, GPS and a machine scrutinized down to the last detail, riders will set out on the largely solitary journey starting in Lima, Peru, on January 5, 2013. They will ride for 15 days and end in Santiago, Chile, on January 20, 2013. This 2013 edition also adventure marks the fifth South American event in the Rally’s history since its inception in 1978, originally called as The Paris-Dakar.
Bikes is always the largest strength of all the competition in Dakar. KTM Racing's three times Dakar winner, Spaniard, Marc Coma will not be making it to the competition followed by his haunting shoulder injury in a crash while competiting in the Morocco Rally which was held in October last year. Kurt Caselli will be substituting him for the event. Title defender Cyril Despres is in good shape and already present to start the race. Chilean, Francisco Chaleco Lopez will be on his KTM 450 Dakar and so does the lone Norwegian Pål Anders Ullevålseter.
Honda as a factory team, this time they are back with key riders, Helder Rodrigues [Portugal], and 3 South American riders, Carlos Salvatierra [Bolivia], Jeremias Israel [Chile], Eduardo Heinrich [Peru]. Team HRC lost their key riders for the race, Sam Sunderland and Felipe Zanol after they were injured during testing in the Mojave Desert..
The entire list of bikers is here.
From last year's winning brothers, Alejandro Patronelli [1st] & Marcos Patronelli [2nd], it will be only Marcos who will be competing in his favourite Yamaha Raptor 700, when he too announced his retirement for this year until the Yamaha Argentina offered him a ride which he couldn't refuse. Tomas Maffei another compatriot to Marcos will be on his Raptor 700, who had finished third last year. Lukasz Laskawiec from Poland will be another podium aspirant in the quads category.
Lets see what the 2013 has on the offer.. Stay tuned for more news on the progress of the race.
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