Both riders have achieved podium finishes in the Cross-Country Rallies Championship this season – at the Silk Way Rally and Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge respectively – with Joaquim finishing the Championship in the fourth position.
This will also be the sixth Dakar for Rodrigues, who has been with the team since its inception in 2016.
It will be the first for Franco in Hero MotoSports colors, following his signing in April 2021. However, Franco is no stranger to the Dakar, having participated in the Rally on five previous occasions.
The duo of Joaquim and Franco will take on the challenges of the Dakar in Saudi Arabia astride the Hero 450 Rally bike, which now offers “improved top speed and acceleration”.
“Hero MotoSports Team Rally wishes a speedy recovery to the other team pilots – Sebastian Buhler, winner of the Hungarian Baja 2021, who was on the roster for the Dakar 2022 but had to withdraw due to an injury at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge…
“…and Indian ace CS Santosh, who is recovering from the crash he suffered in the 2021 edition of the Dakar Rally,” said the team in a statement.
Dakar 2022, the third consecutive edition in Saudi Arabia, will run for 12 stages over 14 days. The rally kicks-off on January 1 with a short Prologue stage, and then travels through various cities across the length and breadth of Saudi Arabia.
A rest day in the capital city of Jeddah on January 8 is the only respite that the competitors will have on a route that covers 3400 kms of racing distance.
Covering a total of 8000 kms, including the liaison stages, the competitors will return to Jeddah for the podium finish on January 14.
A total of 430 vehicles are expected to hit the start line, with 149 of them in the motorcycles category.
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