The Indian contingent participating in the 2017 OiLibya Rally of Morocco showed some spectacular performance. For team TVS Sherco, Spanish rider Joan Pedrero finished a brilliant fifth, while teammates Adrien Metge of France took the 10th place followed by Aravind KP finishing 13th. Hero MotoSports Team Rally too boasted of fantastic results with their Portuguese rider Joaquim Rodrigues finished seventh overall, despite a torn up chin, while his teammate CS Santosh registered his best ever rally finish at 15th. The fifth and final stage of the Oiliby Rally of Morocco was located in Erfoud and finished smoothly, unlike the previous stages that were affected by flooded riverbeds. The final stage saw the riders complete a 180 km loop around Erfoud.
(TVS Sherco had a brilliant finish to the rally leading between the two Indian teams)
Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Racing's Matthias Walkner won the 2017 edition of the OiLibya Rally of Morocco, battling the overflowing rivers, long stages and tricky navigation. Meanwhile, Monster Energy Honda Team riders Kevin Benavides and Ricky Brabec, settled for second and third spots, after putting up a tough fight against Walkner for the top spot.
For the Indian teams though, the 2017 rally was a testing ground before Dakar Rally 2018, and the results certainly disappoint. Both teams and riders posted better times and results over the 2016 rally.
(Aravind KP had his best ever finish at 13th in Morocco)
Maintaining consistent times through all five stages, Joaquim Rodrigues of Hero MotorSports said, "In the beginning, the stage went well and I rode at a decent pace. But while crossing the dunes I landed in the flat while jumping over a dune and bruised my chest and my chin, and had to take five stitches for the same. Overall though the rally was really good for me. I'm improving and the bike is also much better. Things are looking good for the Dakar and we're ready.
CS Santosh too made an aggressive stat this year as he pushed harder than ever to finish 15th. He said, "Going into this rally we knew it was going to be an important test with the new bike. I was really excited to see the evolution of our rally machine. We got here, did some testing and it was really promising, I absolutely loved it straight away."
"The overall goal for the event was to complete the five days and to ride as many kilometres as possible. From day one I made good progress and built up every day. I definitely didn't repeat the mistakes I made last year. I gave a lot of attention to navigation and for sure my speed improved. Happy to go to the Dakar with a feeling like this."
(CS Santosh looked confident through the five stage rally finishing 15th overall)
Speaking on the brilliant performance of the team, Hero MotoSports Team manager Wolfgang Fischer said, "After several months of intensive preparation with our new rally bike, we are more than happy and couldn't ask for more, than finishing with both bikes without any technical problems. This final round of the FIM Cross Country Rally World Championship brings us the first top ten result for Joaquim Rodrigues in a world championship event.
Fischer also said, "We're now looking forward to our next big target - the Dakar Rally. A huge thanks to everyone on the team and everyone involved for the hard and dedicated work."
Both teams will now prepare for the Dakar Rally 2018 that is scheduled between January 6-20th. The 40th edition of what is one of the most gruelling motorsport events, will start in Peru through Bolivia and finally end in Argentina. The rally will see 5000 km of special stages and 4000 km or road section. Seven stages will be 100 per cent dunes or off-road course.
