KP Aravind Becomes Second Indian Ever To Qualify For The Dakar

The final leg of the OiLibya Rally of Morocco saw some intense efforts from Indian rider Aravind KP, riding for the Sherco TVS factory rally team. Aravind was able to climb a couple of places on the final day to finish the rally in 26th place. The result also places him at the 17th position in the 450cc class, whereas his FIM rank (including quad bikes) is 19th in the Moroccan Rally. The Morocco Rally is considered to be a stepping stone for the Dakar, and the result has enabled Aravind to earn himself a slot in the starting lists of the upcoming 2017 Dakar rally where he will become the first Indian to ride for Sherco TVS. 

Aravind says “I am thrilled to complete this rally. Every stage was quite challenging, physically and mentally but I managed to use all the training experience especially while navigating to stay in the race. Also the Sherco TVS engineers ensured my motorcycle didn’t face any major issues. This rally was a fantastic learning ground and now Dakar is next.”

Aravind is only the second Indian to qualify for the Dakar after CS Santosh, arguably the world’s toughest rally-raid. Interesting fact about the two riders is that they were team mates at TVS Racing’s factory motocross and rally team for a long time, before Santosh decided to take off to compete in international rally-raids. 

Santosh himself finished 35th overall in Morocco and will be having a go at the Dakar for the third time next year, now riding for the Hero MotoSport Team Rally. 

After riding as a privateer in the 2015 and 2016 Dakar, Santosh is now riding for Hero MotoCorp’s newly formed factory rally team, which indeed is a major step forward for Indian motorsport apart from the Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team. 

Talking about his experience Santosh said, "Coming here to Morocco we knew it´s going to be very competitive. The OiLibya marked the final test before the Rally Dakar as well as the world championship finale, so all the top riders were showing up. Right from the beginning we had two good days, a good pace and I was just outside the Top 20.".

Santosh had to restart the race on the third day following a mechanical issue, and a few navigation errors cost him some time as well. "Overall it´s been as tough as expected, but there has been a lot of positive learning. It´s good to have problems now instead of having them in January. Going to the Dakar we should have a better run and stay out of trouble. It was a lot of valuable time on the motorcycle," he added.

The results of the Moroccan rally effectively mean that the 2017 Dakar will see the participation of two Indian manufacturers with one Indian rider each, which is no less than history in the making for the country.