Though that is his maiden Dakar Rally, Rodrigo Varela is presently second total within the SSV class with a stage win. Maybe making his début extra spectacular is that he’s driving a Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo that he unexpectedly put collectively in Portugal earlier than bringing it to Saudi Arabia, the place he needed to scramble to search out spare components earlier than the race started.
Talking with Universo On-line, Varela defined the cargo ship along with his automobile needed to change course from its authentic route by the Crimson Sea to keep away from assaults or raids by the Houthis. Consequently, the automobile just isn’t anticipated to reach in Saudi Arabia till 16 January, almost two weeks after the Dakar had already began. Most Dakar Rally automobiles had been transported collectively on the Jolly Palladio and Jolly Titanio vessels after present process scrutineering in Barcelona in early December, and reached their vacation spot in Yanbu later that month. Nonetheless, rivals had been nonetheless allowed to carry their automobiles to the race on their very own.
He discovered of the rerouting on Christmas Day. Varela finally got here throughout an obtainable, principally race-ready Maverick in Portugal, the place Can-Am’s manufacturing facility SSV workforce South Racing is headquartered; as soon as in Al-‘Ula, he started a scramble to search out spare components inside 4 days till the race began whereas additionally guaranteeing it passes inspection.
“We began to race to search for some alternate options, to attempt to proceed with this dream of racing the Dakar,” Varela informed Cross-Nation Rally Information. “After which, an UTV confirmed up in Portugal for us to purchase and attempt to carry it right here as quick as doable by airplane. All the things labored out, we managed to carry the UTV. We had 4 days to arrange this automobile, to get it able to race the Dakar. However we’re right here and now we’re going to have enjoyable.”
Varela’s authentic Maverick was ready by Gustavo Gugelmin, co-driver for Challenger driver Austin Jones and a detailed good friend of the household who beforehand labored along with his father and 2018 Dakar SSV champion Reinaldo Varela.
“He needed to run, purchase a automobile in Portugal, had an air freight, discover as a lot spare components as he can,” Gugelmin remarked.
Regardless of the scenario, Varela has shortly tailored to his new atmosphere. Whereas the Saudi desert is a far cry from his typical stomping grounds as a three-time Brazilian nationwide champion and 2022 Rallye dos Sertões winner, he was already stage winner from the get-go when he received the SSV class in Stage #1. After 5 levels, he sits second total in school trailing Jérôme de Sadeleer by 5:30.
Varela was not the one competitor with a pre-Dakar logistical scare. RallyGP rider and fellow Sertões winner Mason Klein‘s Kove 450 Rally EX was caught in customs within the United Arab Emirates a day earlier than technical inspection ended, prompting his workforce to embark on a late-night rush throughout Saudi Arabia to fetch it; Klein accomplished establishing the bike simply thirty minutes previous to closing.
Houthi assaults on worldwide delivery have intensified because the battle in Gaza, the place the motion is aligned with Hamas in opposition to Israel, continued to escalate. This prompted many vessels such because the one carrying Varela’s Can-Am to bypass the Suez Canal and Crimson Sea in favour of going across the continent of Africa, enormously extending journey time and inflicting disruptions and delays. In response, america is main a multi-national coalition to cease the assaults and piracy by way of Operation Prosperity Guardian. On Friday, hours earlier than the second half of the Dakar’s Chrono Stage started, america and United Kingdom launched retaliatory airstrikes in opposition to Houthi army targets in Yemen.
The scenario prompted Quad workforce CFMOTO Thunder Racing Staff to cancel their plans of getting into the Abu Dhabi Desert Problem in February, the second spherical of the World Rally-Raid Championship after Dakar; each races’ host nations Saudi Arabia and the UAE again the internationally recognised Yemeni authorities of their civil battle in opposition to the Houthis. The Houthis’ meddling within the Crimson Sea additionally hyperlinks the Gaza and Yemeni wars, the previous of which has enormously impacted the rally raid world because it started in October because the Jordan Baja was cancelled whereas nationwide flags had been banned from being displayed on automobiles and bikes for Dakar.
