The final time Justin Gerlach had a one-on-one dialog with The Checkered Flag, he hoped to make his Dakar Rally début in 2024. Nonetheless, the Amaury Sport Organisation informed him quickly after that his software had been rejected.
Fourteen months later, Gerlach sat down with TCF once more for one more chat. This time, he had his acceptance letter for the 2025 race in hand.
The Thumbs Up
The ASO began approving—or denying—2025 Dakar hopefuls in late July. Gerlach was amongst these lucky sufficient to be within the first camp.
“After I bought the e-mail, I anticipated it to return someday later,” Gerlach started. “I used to be in a automobile along with my father and we had been simply chatting about some issues. I went on my telephone, I noticed there’s an electronic mail, however I didn’t actually take into consideration that at this second, after which it shocked me. I didn’t know what to say. It took me a second. My dad was speaking about no matter, I can’t even keep in mind, after which out of the blue I used to be quiet and he mentioned, ‘What’s it? What’s it?’ We each realised, ‘We’re going to Dakar.’
“It has sunk in a bit, however generally I’m nonetheless shocked. I’m simply busy doing my all day work, and sooner or later I take into consideration, ‘Properly, it’s solely, let me examine… 112 days till Dakar.’
“It’s loopy. Typically I can’t realise it. Typically it will get me instantly and I used to be like, ‘Oh shit, yeah, you’re doing it.’ It’s been a part of my day since then, because the acceptance.”
It certainly got here with a sigh of aid, particularly after the frustration of 2023. He credit Ronan Valverde, the ASO’s competitor relations officer, with preserving his head up and offering recommendation on what to do in 2024.
“He was actually variety,” recalled Gerlach. “He despatched me a message after my rejection and mentioned, ‘Hey mate, simply stick with it, hold working, you should have your probability sooner or later.’ Final yr, I didn’t actually wish to hear it, however after just a few months, I got here again to him and we had been involved on a regular basis. He helped me throughout the course of and gave me some recommendation on how I can enhance my probabilities. That’s principally it. I simply stored on going and stored on working.”
Gerlach thought of increasing his race schedule for 2024 to enhance his possibilities of being accepted for 2025, although it turned out to be pointless when the ASO authorized him. Thus, his 2024 rally calendar was not too completely different from what he did final yr by tackling the Abu Dhabi Desert Problem and Rallye Breslau, together with the Fenix Rally as a co-driver.
“I believed in myself and I knew that I simply needed to carry on working with a view to show the ASO this time that I’m worthy of being accepted for Dakar and I could make it,” he commented. “Final yr, I thought of this yr and made some plans, ‘How will you qualify for Dakar? How will you enhance your probabilities?’ That was the purpose the place I made a decision to go to Abu Dhabi once more.”
Whereas his schedule was extra of the identical, he felt the ASO revising the Dakar qualifying course of actually helped made issues simpler. Moreover the Street to Dakar, a programme that rewards the very best riders at every World Rally-Raid Championship occasion with free registration for the Dakar Rally if they’d no prior expertise there, the organiser created a system that arms out factors to those that efficiently full every race no matter end. Ending the ADDC, being a W2RC desert race like Dakar, earns you twelve factors whereas Breslau, a non-FIM occasion within the forests of Poland, yields two factors.
He had mulled between Abu Dhabi or the Rallye du Maroc, the latter additionally a desert rally value twelve factors as the ultimate race of the W2RC, however his familiarity with the previous satisfied him to move again to the UAE.
Abu Dhabi Desert Problem
Held in late February a month after Dakar, the Abu Dhabi Desert Problem is the second spherical of the W2RC. Gerlach had made his championship début on the 2023 version, the place he completed twenty-second total in Rally2 and third in Junior Trophy for riders below twenty-five. He had run within the prime fifteen for a lot of the rally, however his ultimate place was weighed down by battery and gearbox issues throughout the third stage which compelled him to retire from it. Whereas he returned for the final two days, he was nonetheless quite annoyed with the outcome.
“Final yr, I went residence and I assumed, ‘Ugh, I didn’t do each kilometre due to the difficulty I had on the third day final yr,’” Gerlach remarked.
He arrived on the 2024 ADDC on a brand new KTM 450 Rally Reproduction that he bought in Dubai.
“I needed to put together it earlier than the race and it was actually busy instances, however nonetheless ultimately it was an ideal race,” he continued. “In comparison with final yr, I noticed that I improved quite a bit, so possibly it’s not too unhealthy that I took a shot for the Dakar this yr and never final yr as a result of I noticed that the extent of racing was about the identical relating to stage size and from the terrain. I used to be capable of deal quite a bit higher with it and I used to be sooner and I felt higher, extra constant.”
After ending seventeenth at school within the Prologue and twenty-first in Stage #1, his race was actually flipped the other way up the following day. Whereas using with Jean-Philippe Revolte, mud from his fellow rider’s bike kicked up into Gerlach’s imaginative and prescient. By the point he realised what was occurring, he had overshot the upcoming dune.
“We had been going aspect by aspect, and we noticed the digital camera guys on prime of the dune. I’m skilled so I do know if there are digital camera guys, you have to be extra cautious than traditional,” Gerlach began. “However in that second, he gave just a little extra gasoline down the dune than regular and sprayed me fully into my face, all of the sand and I couldn’t see something. I used to be like, ‘Whoa, what’s taking place?’ I opened my eyes once more and I used to be leaping over the dune. It was a mistake from my aspect, clearly I might have been extra cautious. The entrance wheel sank in, the bike flipped.”
He managed to keep away from getting damage and completed the leg in twenty-sixth. Images of the accident, taken by Edoardo Bauer of Rally Zone, unfold like wildfire across the bivouac:
“It was humorous for me within the night, however clearly I used to be a bit by way of the wind. I needed to discover myself the rhythm once more. Within the night after I got here again to the camp, lots of people confirmed me the image and mentioned, ‘Oh, what was taking place?’ They didn’t understand it was me. Some individuals had been chatting within the native racing teams and mentioned, ‘Oh, that’s not the way it’s imagined to be,’ and stuff. Individuals confirmed it to me after which I mentioned, ‘Yeah, it was loopy. I used to be very fortunate.’
“‘You had been very fortunate!?’ ‘Yeah, that’s me.’
“I bought the photograph package deal after which I’ve the entire photograph collection of it. They’re like twenty photos the place you may make a video out of it, like snapshots. They known as it unofficially the image of the race.
“I’m simply actually fortunate to stroll away from it. All of the photographers had been there, I simply picked the bike up,” he remembered as he gave a thumbs-up gesture, “‘Yeah, thanks. Thanks,’ and simply stored going. It took me one or two minutes to cease and take a second and realise, ‘Properly, that was an enormous one, however nothing was damaged.’ I used to be superb and nothing on the bike was damaged. Nothing was damaged. The handlebars had been straight. I might simply proceed on and I used to be so fortunate about that.
“I hope I realized from that. I took a while to replicate on it, the way it occurred and the way I can stop it the following time.”
Along with his bike nonetheless in fine condition, he pressed on. Gerlach completed twenty-fourth in Stage #3 earlier than cracking the highest twenty for the primary time on the fourth leg. Even for the final day, Stage #5 was a difficult one to navigate by way of, however he managed to make it by way of with out a lot downside and completed eighteenth.
Gerlach formally ended the ADDC with a seventeenth in Rally2. Like final yr, he was third for the Junior Trophy.
Whereas total a strong rally save for the accident, Gerlach admitted he had some ideas beforehand of “what occurs if you happen to don’t end once more” since “quite a bit can occur throughout a race. Loads can go flawed and I wouldn’t have completed the race.” As soon as the ADDC kicked off, nevertheless, he “simply tried to make my thoughts freed from that.
“If you’re beginning the stage and take into consideration how one can’t make a mistake or if you happen to’re worrying, it might go flawed. You simply must free your self from that. In the course of the race, I didn’t consider it as a result of I used to be busy all day using and in addition making ready afterwards. After the race, I realised, ‘Yeah, okay, good. Strain is gone. You probably did it. It was an enormous step within the path of Dakar.’ All the pieces went effectively, I’m joyful about it.”
Given the same profile to Dakar, which is held in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, many riders flock to the ADDC to earn their tickets to the race. Moreover Gerlach, different profitable efforts included Willem Avenant, Damien Bataller, Nerimantas Jucius, Iván Merichal, Mykolas Paulavičius, and Gediminas Satkus. Avenant spoke with TCF about his acceptance in August.
Rallye Breslau
Shortly earlier than getting the Dakar inexperienced mild from the ASO, Gerlach went to Poland for his seventh Rallye Breslau. Nonetheless, he was virtually near arriving and not using a correct set of wheels.
“For Abu Dhabi, I offered my new bike in Germany to have the ability to afford the beginning value and in addition the bike there, so about two weeks earlier than the race, I nonetheless had no bike to compete however I used to be registered,” Gerlach mentioned. “I made a decision to make use of the KTM 950 from my dad, which was just like the worst case state of affairs however nonetheless for me, ‘Okay, you can be on the beginning line and you’ll make some expertise,’ however I knew that I wouldn’t be aggressive.”
The KTM 950 is a dual-sport journey bike with virtually twice as massive of an engine as a typical rally bike. Whereas such large bikes weren’t unusual throughout the Dakar Rally’s early days and the FIM Bajas World Cup lately launched a Path class for bikes over 600cc, they don’t seem to be precisely constructed for contemporary rally raids.
Fortuitously for him, Vikingmotors was prepared to offer a Sherco 450 SEF Rally for the race. Vikingmotors is an auto store and dealership in Hönow close to Berlin, whose boss Bernd Zwanzig is “additionally an enormous Dakar fan. We had been speaking about how he wish to help me after which I bought the prospect to get a model new 450 Sherco for competing at Rally Breslau and even now nonetheless for coaching functions. He gave it to me with a view to help me and I’m actually grateful for that.
“Throughout Breslau, the bike was actually, actually good. Certain, I needed to adapt at first. I bought it with 0.5 hours on the engine. I did a half an hour of coaching on it after which I introduced the suspension to my suspension man right here in close by Berlin and mentioned, ‘I would like rally suspension.’ I put it again in and initially line was actually the primary time I rode the bike like this.
“It’s an ideal bike. I used to be actually proud of it. I solely had some points on Thursday with the gas consumption, however I’d are likely to say that was possibly my mistake as a result of I used to be giving it just a little an excessive amount of gasoline, possibly for the stage size.”
The one Sherco within the discipline, Gerlach completed seventeenth within the Enduro class. Given the circumstances, it was actually an enchancment from the wrist harm he sustained on the 2023 race. His father Hardin Gerlach completed fifty-sixth on a KTM 400 EXC.
“The top outcome was not the highest ten I anticipated, possibly due to the time I misplaced on the primary day with out gas but in addition some waypoints I missed though I attempted to navigate exactly. Nonetheless, ultimately, it’s expertise and particularly after final yr the place I broke my wrist at Breslau,” he acknowledged. “For me to return again and end it this yr was necessary additionally for my thoughts and my motivation.”
Held on the navy coaching grounds at Żagań and Drawsko Pomorskie, Rallye Breslau celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2024. Whereas the tight and twisty roads are a lot completely different from the deserts of Dakar, many Dakar rivals are likely to race at Breslau for added coaching; 2024 Enduro winner Bartłomiej Tabin had made his Dakar début earlier within the yr.
Gerlach is keen on Breslau, having raced it since 2018. He informed TCF in 2023 that the race is a vital a part of off-road motorsport in Europe, the place there should not many rally raids that provide FIM-style racing, and has a pleasant nature that offers it a familial vibe.
“Breslau is my favourite race yearly as a result of for me, it’s like coming residence,” he defined. “They name it the Breslau Household. For me, it’s additionally household as a result of I do know so many individuals within the camp and all of the German guys, additionally worldwide guys I get to fulfill yearly there.”
Getting ready for Dakar
Whereas Gerlach favored the Sherco in Poland and the model is the reigning Rally2 winner, he’ll race a 2020 KTM 450 Rally Reproduction on the 2025 Dakar as an alternative. Shercos at Dakar are restricted to Sherco TVS Rally Manufacturing unit Staff members to the purpose the place “even for [Bernd] as a Sherco supplier, he’s not capable of get a motorbike.”
“It’s not that I wouldn’t have trusted Sherco with the duty of doing Rally Dakar,” he clarified, “however to organize an enduro bike like this 450 for Dakar is simply an excessive amount of work and an excessive amount of threat. In case you have the choice of a KTM Rally Reproduction, which is effectively confirmed on Dakar, that’s simply the very best shot for me now.”
Gerlach is presently specializing in rebuilding the KTM earlier than it’s to be delivered to Barcelona in late November, the place will probably be shipped to Saudi Arabia together with all the opposite automobiles. The bike might be ready by DUUST Rally Staff, whose riders Konrad Dąbrowski and Jean-Loup Lepan are respectively third and fourth within the W2RC Rally2 factors.
With a motorbike and crew set, the following aim is to afford the journey to Saudi Arabia. Moreover paying for journey, lodging, and the entry charge, down funds should be made to the ASO at varied instances all through the autumn. Gerlach mentioned to TCF final yr that he deliberate to promote his automobile and shut his financial savings accounts had he been accepted for the 2024 Dakar; he finally did the latter anyway with a view to make it to Abu Dhabi.
Whereas privateer riders have a tendency to begin fundraisers or host occasions, Gerlach is especially utilizing his job as an industrial engineer to cowl the prices.
“After my rejection final yr, I needed to decide whether or not to go for Dakar competitors subsequent yr or to work on my schooling and my profession,” Gerlach acknowledged. “On the finish of final yr, I began my grasp’s. I’m even working much less now, twenty hours per week incomes much less cash, in order that’s an enormous matter. Proper now, there’s a semester break throughout the two semesters the place I’m working forty hours per week simply to get each cent attainable to place it within the Dakar challenge.
“I don’t wish to take a look at my financial institution accounts, however I feel there’s lower than 100 euros proper now as a result of the whole lot goes into the Dakar. Aside from that, to pay for the entry charge and for the service crew, a minimum of the a part of the service crew, I’m having a credit score now which is being paid out subsequent month nevertheless it’s €50,000. My plan was to pay most of it alone. I’m having a fee plan now for the following seven years.”
He’s additionally banking on the assistance of sponsors who help his trigger. His largest backer is the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Membership (ADAC), the biggest vehicle federation in Germany who has additionally sanctioned racing collection like Components 4 and the ADAC Opel Electrical Rally Cup.
“I’m going to repay my again for subsequent January,” he commented. “Some individuals right here perceive my motivation, some individuals in Germany name me loopy, nevertheless it’s simply the way in which I’m doing it.
“I’m nonetheless searching for companions and sponsors who consider in my dream. That’s a whole lot of work and nonetheless engaged on it, nonetheless having belief that I’ll nonetheless discover different companions who’re supporting me. I’m positive not each answer is discovered proper now for that, however I will sustain with my fee plan for Dakar additionally with the rally crew. I’m positive nothing can cease me proper now in making it to the beginning line.”
Throughout his interview final yr, Gerlach made some extent of desirous to carry his father with him if he might afford it. This time, he’s assured that he can—and can—make it occur.
“It’s not an choice of if I do it, I’ll do it for positive,” he expressed. “We’ve deliberate it already. He won’t be my mechanic as he was in Abu Dhabi within the final two years, he’ll simply be my supporter. As a competitor, you’ve gotten the choice to carry members of the family and sponsors for the entire race. It’s nonetheless some huge cash. If I keep in mind it proper, it’s like €4,000 simply to carry a supporter with you, a good friend or household or sponsor to spend the entire two weeks.
“However my dad, I can’t think about not bringing him. I’m actually wanting ahead to sharing the entire two weeks with him and hopefully to be on the end podium along with him. We made the settlement that he must pay for himself as a result of I can’t put it in my finances. I’d like to, but when I discover a sponsor, nobody says, ‘Yeah, right here’s the cash, do it.’ I’m afraid that received’t occur.”
Though most have a tendency to enter races just like the Rallye du Maroc in October as a costume rehearsal for Dakar, Gerlach is opting to play it protected between now and January to keep away from getting damage. That’s to not say that he might be on the sidelines all autumn as he plans to do some native enduro races to “enhance myself on the technical talents as a result of I’m positive that Dakar won’t solely be sand and quick routes.
“As I noticed from this yr, there are a whole lot of technical areas with stones and hill climbs. I feel the terrain might be very numerous, so I’m attempting to enhance my talents proper now with the technical stuff and do sort of using. Aside from that in preparation, it’s all about bodily preparation besides from using the bike.”
Fairly than using, his most important focus is on staying match. In any case, a typical adage is that “Dakar is just 20 p.c being on the race itself and 80 p.c being preparation.” As a part of his routine, Gerlach is “operating as a lot as I ever did” with “three cardio units per week and going to the health club. It’s a whole lot of work and it’s a whole lot of hours each week. Even when it’s nonetheless thus far sooner or later, it’s busy instances.”
The 2025 Dakar Rally
The forty seventh Dakar Rally will happen on 3–17 January. Though it’s the sixth straight yr that the Dakar is in Saudi Arabia, Gerlach feels it’s “going to be a really fascinating version.”
For 2025, the ASO has added quirks to maintain the rally recent whereas it stays in Saudi Arabia, as is contracted by way of 2029. The 2-day Chrono Stage, which was launched in 2024, has been expanded to 950 kilometres and is what Gerlach expects to be “a tough problem.” The bikes may also take a separate route from the automobiles on 5 phases for security causes.
The terrain catches his eye as effectively. Many drivers and riders struggled with flat tyres early due to the rocks on the 2024 race, with the primary stage being so unhealthy that 2022 winner Sam Sunderland known as it “among the worst kilometres” he had ever performed.
Hoping to make issues just a little extra bearable for everybody, the 2025 route will “be much less stony, much less gravelly, extra sand.” Gerlach welcomes the change, calling it “good for me as a result of from Abu Dhabi, I’m quite used to using within the sand, not an excessive amount of on the stones. I wouldn’t have an issue going by way of the stones, however I received’t be as quick. So for me, possibly the brand new route is nice.”
Nonetheless, the characteristic that he considers his “private spotlight” is the mass begin on the ultimate day, which was final performed within the Eighties. As a result of the rally will finish within the Empty Quarter’s open desert, there may be sufficient area to have each car start the final stage on the similar time, separated by class.
“I don’t know what number of bikes are nonetheless in on the final day, however let’s say it’s 100 bikes subsequent to one another beginning,” began Gerlach. “At this second the place 100 engines are beginning, revving up and like giving it full gasoline path to the ultimate stage, actually to the end, the whole lot can occur, however that second, I feel that’s going to be magical. I’ll give a lot power again though I’m going to be fully exhausted in all probability on the final day. If I could make it to the mass begin to the final day, I’m positive I could make it to the end.”
Like most rivals who talked with TCF earlier than their first Dakars, his most important aim is to achieve the end. Whereas a excessive place is actually welcome, he isn’t eager on having that on his thoughts.
“I thought of it, however I’m attempting to do away with each facet of attempting to attain a sure place,” he admitted. “I might be struggling for positive. You may work as a lot as attainable earlier than and that’s what I’m doing proper now, nevertheless it’s going to be brutal. I’m positive, particularly the second week after relaxation day, will probably be a combat each morning even to rise up and get on the bike.
“It’s going to be a psychological problem. For me, it’s actually to make it to the end ramp the place my father might be. Hopefully, my mom will fly to Saudi Arabia to fulfill me there, and in addition certainly one of my greatest associates goes to go to me the final three days.
“To make it to those final days the place my greatest good friend is coming in, my mom’s coming in, my dad might be there, that’s my most important aim. To share the second on the end line with them, that’s simply what I’m searching for. All the pieces else comes after as a result of if I’m attempting to push greater than I’m able to simply because I wish to attain a sure place, personally it could threat an excessive amount of.”
Ought to he arrive on the end ramp in Shubaytah, Gerlach can be the youngest German rider to finish the Dakar. The document is presently held by Mike Wiedemann, who was twenty-four when he did the 2022 race, whereas Gerlach won’t attain that age till subsequent April. He and Wiedemann, who races solo within the Unique by Motul (Malle Moto) subcategory, are good associates.
“It sort of motivated me to do it this yr positively,” Gerlach famous on the document. “I’d be mendacity if I mentioned one thing else as a result of that’s an opportunity I’ll by no means have once more. Perhaps in a few years if I do Dakar, it was by no means a query of doing it, it was quite a query of when I’ll do it. I wouldn’t be joyful if I missed this opportunity and for me, the prospect is there now. With the ability to be the youngest German ever initially line is nice and I’m positive within the subsequent month, one thing can occur, however I hope I’ll make it. I’m positive that’s nice.
“However I’ve to say I’ve the largest respect for Mike. We had been doing native races right here in Germany collectively and he’s a really variety man. He’s very useful. He made it to the end on his first Dakar as a rookie, as a younger man. That’s my purpose. Yeah, I’m the youngest initially line, however to be the youngest on the end line is an enormous problem and we’ll see what occurs.
As soon as Dakar is completed and dusted, he doesn’t anticipate to be an everyday competitor, as a lot as he wish to.
“I’m paying off a credit score for the following seven years a minimum of,” Gerlach commented. “I can’t do it like this yearly the place I’m like taking cash from a credit score to make it to Dakar. We are going to see what occurs.
“I’m positive I’ll make it attainable to return again to Rallye Breslau as a result of for me it’s a really handy race, however I’m not too positive if somebody will see me subsequent yr on the World Championship races. Perhaps if it’s attainable, I’d certainly do it. However from my private aspect financially, it’s going to be very tough.”
Having mentioned that, he isn’t ruling out returning to the Dakar in a barely completely different capability. One choice is to be a automobile co-driver like he does on the Fenix Rally, the place he calls the photographs for Ali Gharib in a 2006 Land Rover Defender. Whereas it’s “nothing too critical” for the time being, Gerlach and Gharib, who raced the Dakar Rally in 2015, have thought of doing the 2026 Dakar Basic within the Land Rover; the Dakar Basic is a regularity race reserved for automobiles constructed earlier than 2005 and held concurrently the principle rally. Though their Land Rover is a 2006 mannequin, he assumes the vary might be expanded with every year.
“Doing my two competitions at Fenix Rally, I used to be a navigator within the desert, and I actually prefer it,” he started. “I feel for the longer term, that will be one thing that will actually, actually curiosity me.
“Perhaps it’s an choice to do the Dakar Basic or possibly the traditional Dakar within the automobile as a navigator. I feel that that will actually, actually curiosity me and I’d actually hope that that may work out one way or the other.”
Rally in Germany
“Everybody who thinks about doing Dakar ought to begin in the present day, as a result of it’s a good distance.”
– Justin Gerlach
Though Germany has claims to Dakar historical past like 1985 Truck winner Karl-Friedrich Capito, 2000 total champion Jutta Kleinschmidt, and present W2RC bike competitor Sebastian Bühler, Gerlach admits the game will not be precisely standard among the many youthful group in his residence nation. If he wished to seek out somebody to speak concerning the race with, he sometimes has to strategy the older generations.
“They’re asking me, ‘What are you doing now?’, or ‘What are you attempting to attain? You’re racing bikes?’ I say, ‘Yeah, I do Rally Dakar.’ Some say, ‘Oh, I do know Rally Dakar from Eurosport, from tv,’ however principally after I go to races and I speak to individuals of my age, they don’t actually find out about Rally Dakar. It’s quite the fathers who’re excited about Rally Dakar,” remembered Gerlach.
“I can keep in mind after I was on the first junior motorsport occasion from the ADAC, there’s a pool of younger motocross and enduro racers, kart racers, rally racers with me, and we had been coaching collectively and performing some stuff collectively. We had been sitting collectively after which they launched me as a result of it’s extra of the motocross and the enduro youth and so they know one another for years, then it was me.
“I mentioned, ‘Yeah, I’m doing rally racing.’ All the children thought I’d be in a automobile, however the fathers and the mother and father who had been sitting subsequent to us, they had been like, ‘Oh yeah!’ Within the night after we had been consuming collectively, I used to be with the fathers on the desk after which had been speaking about Rally Dakar and so they had been throughout it. They liked it. All of them mentioned, ‘Yeah, I used to be following it twenty years in the past! Holy shit! Good! Do it!’
“Nevertheless it’s tough in Germany. If I take a look at discovering sponsors, it’s harder I feel than in different international locations. It’s giving me a tough time proper now, however doesn’t matter. I’m engaged on it.”
Since they’re nonetheless of their twenties, Gerlach and Wiedemann determine to maneuver the needle and get these of their age vary . After all, that is simpler mentioned than performed as a result of rally is an more and more costly self-discipline to get into.
“I’ve to say that Mike is just a few steps additional than me for positive. Even in native enduro racing, he’s sooner than me,” Gerlach quipped. “We each are the younger guys, younger German guys at Dakar. I feel it’s very distinctive as a result of after I take a look at the following years, I feel there won’t be many younger individuals from Germany who will make it to Dakar. There are just a few round Mike, some associates up right here who’re additionally attempting to attain that, and I hope they’ll make it.
“However rally racing for younger individuals is getting actually tough as a result of it’s getting dearer. Even the entry charges are getting dearer, but in addition the gear you want. You want an airbag jacket which prices you €2,500 with the cartridges and all that. It’s tough for younger riders in Germany to afford that, particularly additionally as a result of the game will not be too massive right here and you can’t actually prepare in Germany.
“I’m joyful that Mike and I are a sort of image of the younger technology, and I hope that we are able to construct on that and that there are different younger riders who we are able to persuade. Rally racing in Germany was larger sooner or later, I’m positive, and we now have very well-known German riders and drivers who made it profitable at Dakar and why shouldn’t we stick with it?”
He won’t be an enormous title star or competing for the World Championship, however Gerlach is prepared to be an envoy for the game and assist discover pathways for anybody who needs to strive. Even a brand new member to the Breslau Household, no matter their Dakar aspirations, is one thing that will greater than please him to see.
“Everybody who thinks about doing Dakar ought to begin in the present day, as a result of it’s a good distance,” he concluded. “If somebody is and desires to understand how issues are figuring out, I’m actually joyful to share my expertise. I’m not attempting to make it behind a closed door and simply attempt to make it myself. I’m actually joyful about everybody who wish to ask me about easy methods to make it to Dakar even it’s identical to, ‘I wish to do it sooner or later. How can I do it?’
“In case you have not even made step one or one thing, be happy to ask me as a result of I’d be actually joyful to assist everybody doing it. After I take a look at rally racing, it’s a group. What makes it particular is that everybody helps one another. I’m positive that if there’s somebody I can carry to rally racing, even when it’s solely participation in Breslau, I achieve yet another good friend and I achieve somebody who can be prepared to assist me on observe and that I wish to assist.
“So yeah, if somebody is , let me know. I’d be joyful that can assist you to get a foot into this sport.”
