São Paulo – Three Brazilians will compete in the 2020 Dakar Rally to kick off next Sunday (5) in Saudi Arabia. In the SSV category, the team made up by Reinaldo Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin will try to win Dakar for the second time. The SSVs include two-seat, off-road vehicles. As for the bike category, Antonio Lincoln Berrocal represents Brazil.
This is the first time the Dakar Rally will take place in Saudi territory. The race runs through a 7,856-km course. Sixty-five percent of the course will be on sand – mostly regions with over 200-meter-high dunes. The event will be divided into twelve stages, beginning at the city of Jeddah and ending at Qiddiyah.
Winners of 2018 Dakar, Varela (R, pictured beside) and Gugelmin (L) have also won the 2019 World Cup for Cross Country Rallies in Morocco in the same category.
Named Monster Energy/Can-Am, the team is already in Saudy Arabia getting ready for the twelve-day race. “Right away we’ll face a day marked by the dangerous dunes but with very twisty, rocky paths. One can lose the rally right there,” Varela pointed out about the first stretch from Jeddah to Al Wajh.
They hope they have a great performance from the start so that they are prepared for the last stage’s challenges, to run on January 17. “I believe the greatest opponent at that point will be the exhaustion. It’ll certainly decide many things in this Dakar as has done in so many others through history,” said Gugelmin on the race from Haradh to Qiddiya, which includes sandy and gravel tracks as well as rocky stretches.
As for the bike category, Antonio Lincoln Berrocal participates in Dakar for the second time. The athlete debuted in the 2019 race at 60. “It’s not just a question of registering and taking part. You have to prove that you’re good enough. Just few riders of 60 manage to do so. My age actually gave me quite some notoriety. I was able to make many friends and inspire people,” the pilot was quoted as saying in the 2020 Dakar website.
He started practicing in 1972 and since then has competed in races such as Rally Dos Sertões. In 2019, Berrocal was the oldest pilot to race Dakar last year but didn’t manage to complete the event. This year he won’t be the oldest, as South African Wessel Bosman beats him.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
