Hero MotoSports Team Rally, the motorsport division of Hero MotoCorp, is set to participate in the first Dakar Series event – the Afriquia Merzouga Rally – to be held from May 6-12 in Morocco. The rally, open to motorcycles, quads and Utility Task Vehicles (UTVs), begins the run up to Dakar 2018.

This will be Hero MotoSports Team Rally’s second consecutive appearance at Afriquia Merzouga. It will field a full strength team with Indian ace CS Santosh and Portuguese supercross star, Joaquim Rodrigues.

While CS Santosh will make a comeback to rally racing, after missing the India Baja, his co-rider Joaquim Rodrigues will look to build on his winning momentum from the India Baja 2017, which took place in Rajasthan in April.

Running under the aegis of the Dakar Series since 2016, the eighth edition of the Afriquia Merzouga Rally involves six days of racing in south-east Morocco, including 1,200km of fully off-road specials. This year, 145 vehicles (88 bikes, 23 quads and 34 SidebySide) for a total of 178 competitors will be at the start of the rally.

Dr Markus Braunsperger, chief technology officer, Hero MotoCorp, said, “The Merzouga Rally will offer a good platform to evaluate the physical and technical strengths of the team, so that necessary course corrections can be made, if any, for the Dakar 2018. It has just been a year since the formation of our team and we are excited by the impressive performances so far. We are looking for another 100 percent finish rate this year.”

Wolfgang Fischer, Team Manager, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, added, “We are excited to be back in full strength. Santosh has recovered well and it’s good to see him on the bike again; JRod is in good form. All the team members, the bikes, spares and assistance vehicles have arrived in Morocco and the final preparations are underway.”