TVS Racing announced that its champion rider, Arvind KP will be competing for the Sherco TVS Rally Factory team at the Dakar Rally 2017. Arvind, who’s been associated with the two-wheeler manufacturer since the past 10 years, will be participating in the world’s toughest cross-country rally for the first time ever.
KP began racing in 2005 at the age of 19, looking to prove himself on the national circuit. And since then he has won as many as 15 National Championships. He’s the second Indian racer to participate in the Dakar Rally after CS Santosh.
The race is an off-road endurance competition. At 9,300 km, the Dakar is the monster of all rallies and puts the rider to the ultimate test. Quite a few times, the riders struggle for oxygen due to the ever-changing altitudes during the race.
Speaking at an event to celebrate this watershed moment, he said, “I started racing in 2006 and have been winning championships including one International. The journey has been really wonderful. I’ve learnt a lot and I am a better rider and a better person. From 2006 to 2017 Dakar, it’s a big deal. It’s been a great, adventurous and challenging journey.
“TVS Racing has already scheduled a training programme with me and Juan Pedrero (a Spanish Champion for Sherco-TVS Rally team). So that’s what I will be focusing on and getting my navigation skills right so that I don’t miss any routes and head to the finish line easily”, he added.
Asked about his preparations for the Dakar rally he said, “Before Dakar, I will also be doing the Morocco rally, so that’s part of my training as well. In India too we have all kinds of terrains and my team has been part of all kinds of rallies. So the riding part is going to be the same. I just need to spend a lot more time on the bike”, he concluded.
Trivia on the Dakar rally
The event was solely created due to one man getting lost in the desert.
Thierry Sabine, a French motorbike racer, was competing at the 1977 Abidjan-Nice Rally when all of a sudden he found himself lost in the middle of nowhere. Realising that navigating the isolated sand dunes of the desert posed quite a test, he organised the inaugural competition that left Paris in December 1978.
The event is named after the capital of Senegal – Dakar – which is also the largest city in the country.
