The sixth edition of the BMW International GS Trophy is all set to begin on June 3 and the Indian flag will be flying high in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, as the Indian trio will be making their debut at the international event. BMW will equip the riders with brand new personalised R 1200 Rallye adventure motorcycles. 114 of these examples were shipped to the venue a couple of months ago by BMW Motorrad. The event starts on June 3 and ends on June 10.
The terrain in Mongolia will be rough, with a combination of dirt tracks, slopes and deserts. For the 2018 edition, there are 18 teams comprising of 54 riders who will be competing for top honours. The duration of the event will be ten days, which includes seven days of riding, a couple of days for inward and outward journeys and a day for briefing the participants. Sanket Shanbhag, Suprej Venkat and Winston Lee were selected after they won the qualifiers for the 2018 edition which took part in Goa last year.
On the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy and the Indian trio taking part in the international event, Vikram Pawah, president, BMW Group India said, “The International GS Trophy is an integral part of BMW Motorrad and our GS customer engagement. The GS Trophy is a celebration of the spirit of BMW GS motorcycles, bringing together those elements of freedom, adventure and challenge that these bikes incite. We are proud that all three BMW GS riders will go on to make history for BMW Motorrad India, by forming the first Indian team to enter the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy. We truly hope that these incredible Indian ambassadors will demonstrate the unique GS spirit and will battle out various challenges in the prestigious global off-road event and will continue this success story for a long time.”
The earlier editions of the international event were held in Tunisia, South Africa, Patagonia, Canada and Thailand.