Hero Motosports has announced the team for the Dakar 2020 which for the first time will be hosted in Saudi Arabia. The Hero 450 RR bike will be piloted by CS Santosh, Joaquim Rodrigues, Oriol Mena, and Paulo Goncalves.
The team was established in 2016 and in the three years of participation at Dakar, they have emerged as one of the promising teams in international motorsports. Hero Motosports also has two back-to-back top 10 Dakar finishes and a 100 percent arrival rate. This year, Hero Motosports Team Rally took home podiums in Merzouga and Desert Storm, stages wins in Silkway Rally, Pan Africa Rally, and Rally du Muroc.
Saudi Arabia will be the host for the Dakar 2020 for the first time ever. The Dakar rally is scheduled to begin from Jeddah on January 5, 2020 and will consist of 12 stages. The 7,900km rally will conclude in Qiddiyah, near the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Announcing the Team today, Wolfgang Fischer, Team Manager, Hero MotoSports Team Rally said, “We have had a good year so far and we want to close it on a high with a strong performance at the Dakar 2020. The preparations for the Team have been good and all riders are in good shape. The bikes have also been performing without any glitches. Now we will enter the last phase of our preparations before heading to the Dakar at a new destination, Saudi Arabia. It will be a new challenge for everyone. We are determined to compete well and improve our results this year.”