WINNING DAKAR

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PARTNER STORY

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This year, for the first time ever, Adria can finally say: “We won the Dakar Rally”.

The first five places in the motorbike category of the Dakar 2019 went to riders - three representing KTM and two Husqvarna - who chose Adria comfort for sleep and relaxation, and to help them plan strategies and prepare themselves mentally. The first five places all belonged to “Adria”!Australian pilot Toby Price, riding for the Red Bull KTM Factory Team, won the second Dakar of his career, despite breaking his wrist in a fall just a month before the start of the most important race in the career of a rally raid rider. The Matrix Motorhome that Toby shared with Sam Sunderland, who finished third overall, provided a comfortable retreat for the Australian when he found things particularly difficult, allowing him to keep his discomfort and treatment under wraps as far as possible. Second place in the Dakar went to 2018 winner Matthias Walker, who shared his Adria Motorhome with Luciano Benavides, competing for the second time and finishing in eighth place. The Austrian rider fought like a lion for victory, and Price’s winning margin of only 9 minutes 13 seconds, after a race of 33 hours, 10 stages and almost 5000 kilometres says much about the unremitting challenge of this Peruvian ordeal. Pablo Quintanilla and Andrew Short, riding for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing, achieved fourth and fifth places overall, with the Adria Sonic playing a very important role in this result

 

The Chilean, Quintanilla, challenged Price almost to the end, and began the special tenth and final stage only one minute behind. Unfortunately, a bad fall among the dunes in the last kilometres of the competition put paid to his chances, but despite the blow he managed to remount and complete his Dakar. In Peru this year the KTM and Husqvarna teams deployed a 32-strong support crew of mechanics, team managers, drivers,  doctors, WP Suspension experts, engineers, logistics specialists and physiotherapists. Three of the four Adria campers were used by the riders, with the fourth used as an office by the whole team during the day and as overnight accommodation for team managers Jordi Viladoms of KTM and Pela Renet of Husqvarna when the daily briefings and meetings had finished.

 

“The Adria Motorhomes were essential and indispensable for our team this year”, explained Stefan Huber, logistics manager and technician of the Austrian company at the end of the race in Lima, while preparing for the transfer of all the equipment aboard ship for the long return journey, “and living conditions at the base helped the riders to maintain very high levels of performance and concentration throughout the race”. The oppressive heat and humidity of Peru failed to disturb the peace and relaxation of the KTM and Husqvarna riders, who were always able to find refuge in their Motorhomes.

 

At the end of each special stage, in Pisco, San Juan De Marcona and Arequipa, the riders would retire to the haven of their vehicles and remain there until dinner, preparing the road book, resting and eating, before studying routes with the Map Men, still in their Motorhomes.

Life in the Motorhome Office was slightly different. This vehicle, like the others, would leave camp early so that it could be used at the next camp by the team managers and the Map Man - the person who helps riders to know and understand the roads and tracks to be negotiated each day.

 

The managers and Map Men rarely left the Office, but sat inside throughout the day using a tracking system to follow the race and check the times of each rider along the route. The office internet connection operated less well during travel than when the vehicle was parked at the camps, but the two people manning the travelling office nevertheless managed to check the positions of the riders, work on the maps and plan the day’s meetings.

 

Briefings with the riders were organised in this Adria Motorhome each evening. And it is here that, in a competition organised in a single country – Peru – for the first time in 41 years, on routes rendered almost impossible by the endless sand, millions of tracks and towering dunes of Tanaka, strategies and tactics were devised that allowed KTM and Husqvarna to monopolise the podium of Dakar 2019.

 

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This year, for the first time ever, Adria can finally say: “We won the Dakar Rally”.

The first five places in the motorbike category of the Dakar 2019 went to riders - three representing KTM and two Husqvarna - who chose Adria comfort for sleep and relaxation, and to help them plan strategies and prepare themselves mentally. The first five places all belonged to “Adria”!Australian pilot Toby Price, riding for the Red Bull KTM Factory Team, won the second Dakar of his career, despite breaking his wrist in a fall just a month before the start of the most important race in the career of a rally raid rider.

 

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The Matrix Motorhome that Toby shared with Sam Sunderland, who finished third overall, provided a comfortable retreat for the Australian when he found things particularly difficult, allowing him to keep his discomfort and treatment under wraps as far as possible. Second place in the Dakar went to 2018 winner Matthias Walker, who shared his Adria Motorhome with Luciano Benavides, competing for the second time and finishing in eighth place. The Austrian rider fought like a lion for victory, and Price’s winning margin of only 9 minutes 13 seconds, after a race of 33 hours, 10 stages and almost 5000 kilometres says much about the unremitting challenge of this Peruvian ordeal. Pablo Quintanilla and Andrew Short, riding for Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing, achieved fourth and fifth places overall, with the Adria Sonic playing a very important role in this result.

 

​

 

The Chilean, Quintanilla, challenged Price almost to the end, and began the special tenth and final stage only one minute behind. Unfortunately, a bad fall among the dunes in the last kilometres of the competition put paid to his chances, but despite the blow he managed to remount and complete his Dakar. In Peru this year the KTM and Husqvarna teams deployed a 32-strong support crew of mechanics, team managers, drivers,  doctors, WP Suspension experts, engineers, logistics specialists and physiotherapists. Three of the four Adria campers were used by the riders, with the fourth used as an office by the whole team during the day and as overnight accommodation for team managers Jordi Viladoms of KTM and Pela Renet of Husqvarna when the daily briefings and meetings had finished.

 

“The Adria Motorhomes were essential and indispensable for our team this year”, explained Stefan Huber, logistics manager and technician of the Austrian company at the end of the race in Lima, while preparing for the transfer of all the equipment aboard ship for the long return journey, “and living conditions at the base helped the riders to maintain very high levels of performance and concentration throughout the race”. The oppressive heat and humidity of Peru failed to disturb the peace and relaxation of the KTM and Husqvarna riders, who were always able to find refuge in their Motorhomes.

 

​

 

At the end of each special stage, in Pisco, San Juan De Marcona and Arequipa, the riders would retire to the haven of their vehicles and remain there until dinner, preparing the road book, resting and eating, before studying routes with the Map Men, still in their Motorhomes.

Life in the Motorhome Office was slightly different. This vehicle, like the others, would leave camp early so that it could be used at the next camp by the team managers and the Map Man - the person who helps riders to know and understand the roads and tracks to be negotiated each day.

 

The managers and Map Men rarely left the Office, but sat inside throughout the day using a tracking system to follow the race and check the times of each rider along the route. The office internet connection operated less well during travel than when the vehicle was parked at the camps, but the two people manning the travelling office nevertheless managed to check the positions of the riders, work on the maps and plan the day’s meetings.

 

Briefings with the riders were organised in this Adria Motorhome each evening. And it is here that, in a competition organised in a single country – Peru – for the first time in 41 years, on routes rendered almost impossible by the endless sand, millions of tracks and towering dunes of Tanaka, strategies and tactics were devised that allowed KTM and Husqvarna to monopolise the podium of Dakar 2019.

 

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