- Hero MotoSports announces its rider line-up for 2020 Dakar Rally
- Competing for the team will be CS Santosh, Oriol Mena, Joaquim Rodrigues and Paulo Goncalves
- Will be held in Saudi Arabia for the first time
Hero MotoSports Team Rally has announced its four-rider squad for the 2020 Dakar Rally. Representing the team at the world’s most grueling rally event will be the Indian rider CS Santosh, Oriol Mena from Spain and Joaquim Rodrigues and Paulo Goncalves from Portugal. Notably, Hero will be participating in the Dakar Rally for the fourth consecutive time this year.
Talking about the team members, Paulo Goncalves will be competing for Hero for the first time. With several achievements under his belt, the most notable has been his victory at the World Rally Championship. As for Oriol Mena, the Spaniard was the Dakar Rookie of the Year in 2017 and has been putting up a strong show since then. Joaquim Rodrigues, after winning the 2019 Pan Africa Rally, is looking forward to retaining the same performance at Dakar while CS Santosh is also confident after finishing in top five at the 2019 Pan Africa.
Hero MotoSports team showcased a consistently impressive performance in the rallies it participated in throughout the year. The team achieved podium finishes in Pan Africa Rally, Merzouga Rally and Desert Storm. Moreover, the riders were also on the forefront in the Silky Way and Rally Du Maroc. Hero MotoSports intends to utilise the learnings from these competitions in the upcoming Dakar.
To be held in Saudi Arabia for the first time, the 2020 edition of the Dakar Rally will comprise of 12 stages comprising of 7,900km of overall route including special stages spanning across 5,000km. Starting from Jeddah and concluding in Qiddiyah, the route will be a mix of varied terrains with a majority of sand dunes along the course.
