MUMBAI: Lex Sportel has partnered with Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters, for the exclusive broadcast of the Dakar Rally in India on DSport.
Motorsports enthusiasts in India will now get a chance to catch a 30-minutes daily highlights package on DSport at 10.30 pm IST every day between 11-17 January as well as two weekly highlights.
RC Venkateish, MD, Lex Sportel, said: “We are delighted to have Hero MotoCorp as our title broadcast partner, and this association has enabled us to bring the Dakar Rally to motorsports fans in India. This is the world’s most grueling rally raid and I am sure this broadcast will go a long way in building a new fan base in the country by providing them access to Dakar action.”
More than 550 competitors covering nearly 7900 km of varying terrain, including desert, canyons, dunes and mountains, throughout Saudi Arabia are participating in the 42nd edition of the Dakar Rally.
The Rally has completed the first week of this year’s edition and commenced Stage 7 of 12 overall Sunday.
Meanwhile Hero MotoSports Team Rally – the motorsports team of Hero MotoCorp – a regular participant at the Dakar Rally since 2017, pulled its team out of the competition owing to the demise of its team rider and former World Rally Champion Paulo Goncalves.
The tragic death of Hero’s most experienced rider has left the team and the entire Dakar fraternity in shock, and it is out of respect for its departed teammate that Hero will not continue to pursue Dakar this year. Paulo was a Dakar veteran and passed away due to a cardiac arrest after a fall in Stage 7, 276 km into the special section.
In a first for the Hero MotoSports Team, it was participating in Dakar 2020 with four riders – aside from Goncalves, there was 2019 Pan Africa Rally winner Joaquim Rodrigues, Indian Ace rider CS Santosh, and the latest addition – Sebastian Buhler (who replaced the injured Oriol Mena).
