Hero MotoSports Team Rally kick started their first campaign of the season at the Andalucia Rally today. After having cleared all the administrative and technical checks over the last 2 days, the team took to the starting line of the Prologue stage at the Villamartin city of Spain.
Taking to the start line I full strength today, Joaquim Rodrigues, C S Santosh and Sebastian Buhler, shifted into race mode with a short 9 km dash for bikes at the end of the day. Handled with ease and caution, Joaquim’s 18th place, Buhler’s 10th place and Santosh’s 22nd place finish in the prologue stage, completed the important task of deciding the starting orders for the riders for their first big stage, which could well turn out to be particularly crucial given the expected dust over the next few days.
The first full stage of the rally will be kicked off tomorrow from the Rally HQ at Villamartin covering 59 kms in the liaison to reach the start line near the town of Moron De La Frontera followed by a 258 km timed special stage to arrive back at the bivouac in Villamartin.
Andalucia Rally makes up for interesting rally in aspects beyond racing as well, by becoming the first rally to set the standards for the ‘new normal’ in the rally raids i.e. being conducted behind ‘closed doors’ with no spectators allowed and the strict compliances required by the teams with the Covid safeguards. Besides the Covid induced changes, it will also provide the riders with an opportunity to get more familiarized with the colored road books that were first introduced in the Dakar 2020, and test out the new Air Bag requirements for the riders with an aim to make the rally safer for the bike rider.
Joaquim Rodrigues, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: « It was a difficult start for me today as some feelings that I had managed to suppress for all this time came back to me. I felt that I was little slow of course, because my breaking and acceleration timing was a bit off but I am happy that I brought my bike across the finish line. This was just the prologue and it’s behind me now so I am looking forward to the first stage tomorrow. »
C S Santosh, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: « The prologue today was of very high intensity being a very short one. I tried to push myself hard to go as fast as possible and I felt good and confident riding after such a long break. Looking forward to build it from here and ready to go for the next four days. »
Sebastian Buhler, Rider, Hero MotoSports Team Rally: « It was a very short stage today but I felt very good with the bike. The team and the riders have worked very hard on the bike and it’s looking in top shape. So I am feeling very good and now we go on to the first stage. »
Prologue Rankings
1. Toby Price, RedBull KTM Factory Racing, 06m 29s
2. Daniel Sanders, RedBull KTM Factory Racing, +00s
3. Ross Branch, Monster Yamaha Rally Team, +03s…
10. Sebastian Buhler, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +11s…
18. Joaquim Rodrigues, Hero MotoSPorts Team Rally, +16s…
22. C S Santosh, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +39s…