1704892394
In his first participation in the Dakar Rally, the Brazilian driver Varela even took the lead in the SSV class after the first stage, but after two stages he is in second place. A total of 36 teams compete in this class.
Coming from a family with a long history of motorsports, Varela was on the verge of not realizing his dream of making his debut in Dakar. He was visiting relatives in Brazil over Christmas when he received news that the cargo ship carrying the Can-Am buggy to the race had been attacked by Houthi pirates. The ship managed to escape from the pirates, but this required a significant change of course, which in turn extended the arrival at its destination by 20 days.
Participation in the Dakar Rally was at risk and at the last moment they had to look for a car that could still be used at the start. One was found in Portugal.
“We found a Can-Am in Portugal,” says Rodrigo Varela. “It belongs to a driver who traveled to Brazil to take part in the Rally dos Sertões with us. However, it still had to be modified and adjusted in a hurry. Luckily everything worked and we passed the Dakar technical inspection.”
But that’s not the end of all the problems, says Varela: “We still don’t have all the spare parts we need for the Dakar Rally, and that requires major repairs. To solve the problem, we rely on the help of other teams.” Dakar is a mixture of racing and adventure. And solidarity is one of the most important features. People help each other whenever they can.”
For example, immediately after arriving in Saudi Arabia, the team began searching for a power generator.
“It will stay that way until the end,” admits Varela. “Even with the exact plan we had before the incident, it would have been difficult to finish the race. But that’s exactly what the Dakar is: you have to overcome yourself every day.”
Resources used:
www.f1.lv
#Dakar #Rally #participants #plans #thwarted #pirate #attack #Motorsport #Sportacentrs.com