Preview: 2013 Dakar Rally

Eight Australians will be in action, including Matthew Fish on a factory-supported Husqvarna, desert racing supremo Ben Grabham and Oz Safari winner Todd Smith

The 2013 Dakar Rally kicks off on January 5, with eight Australians set to compete in the brutal 8432km, 14-stage epic though Peru, Argentina and Chile.

On paper, Victorian Matt Fish has the best opportunity to impress, as he’ll ride a Husqvarna TE449 RR by Speedbrain in the event as part of the factory team, alongside team-mates including Joan Barreda and Paulo Goncalves. Husqvarna is responsible for the development, design and overall performance diagnostics of the 450cc engine, and supplies the race-ready power train to the Speedbrain team.

In the bike’s last audition before the 2013 Dakar Rally, Fish rode it to eighth place in the 2000km Morocco Rally in October, with Barreda and Goncalves second and fifth respectively. The winner – ominously for Speedbrain – was reigning Dakar champion Cyril Despres on his KTM 450 Rally.

Despres (pictured) is again the warm favourite to take home the motorcycle honours, especially with his factory KTM team-mate Marc Coma a recent withdrawal after injuring his shoulder in the aforementioned Morocco Rally. In 2012, Despres and Coma were only minutes apart in actual riding times after 15 days and more than 8000km of the world’s most challenging terrain. Coma will be replaced by American Kurt Caselli, with the other KTM front-runners expected to be Ruben Faria and Joan Pedrero.

Even though Coma will be an absentee, Despres is quick to point out that it is the race itself that is his biggest rival.

“I am always cautious,” he says. “I always say that my biggest rival on the Dakar isn’t the other competitors but the desert itself. That is the thing on the Dakar that no-one can master!”

Australian Ben Grabham, who’s won every desert event in Australia during a stellar career, will compete on a privateer KTM in the Dakar, his return to competition after suffering severe spinal injuries in a horror crash at the 2012 Condo 750 when hit a mob of kangaroos at 160km/h.

“Dakar had always been the plan but when I found Skippy at Condo I thought that was over,” says Grabham. “However, because Jeff (Leisk – KTM General Manager) is always part of our racing he knows me and how driven I am and when KTM committed to me early in my recovery it gave me a lot of drive and made me very positive about getting there.”

The remaining Australian entrants are Rod Faggotter (Yamaha), 2012 Australasian Safari winner Todd Smith (Honda), Warren Strange (Honda), the UK-based Simon Pavey (Husqvarna), Troy O’Connor (KTM) and Scott Andrew (Honda).

Alongside the increased factory effort from Husqvarna, Honda is also upping the ante for the 2013 Dakar, with its bike – the CRF450 Rally -- based on the CFR450X enduro machine. The CRF450 Rally was only unveiled at the Intermot motorcycle fair in Cologne in October, and will be ridden in the Dakar by last year’s third-placed man Helder Rodrigues, 11-time Baja 1000 champion Johnny Campbell, Brazilian Felipe Zanol, Briton Sam Sunderland and Argentine Javier Pizzolito.

Meanwhile, Spaniard Jordi Viladoms (Husqvarna) will be looking to make it onto the podium after a fine fourth place in 2012, while his compatriot Laia Sanz (Gas-Gas) will be making her second Dakar appearance. Sanz is the world’s authoritative figure in women’s moto trials competition, and she’s now branching out into enduros and desert racing.

Yamaha is pinning most of its hopes on Dutchman Frans Verhoeven.

SBS will screen a Dakar Rally highlights package at 5.30pm each night, starting from January 6.

Dakar 2013: The first half stages

Jan. 5 - Stage 1: Lima (Peru) – Pisco – total distance 263 km: 250 km liaison and 13 km special (shortest stage in the 2013 edition)

Jan 6 – Stage 2: Pisco - Pisco (loop) total distance 327 km: 85 km liaison; 242 km special

Jan 7 – Stage 3: Pisco - Nazca – total distance 343 km: 100 km liaison; 243 km special

Jan 8 – Stage 4: Nazca - Arequipa – total distance 718 km: 429 km liaison; 289 special

Jan 9 – Stage 5: Arequipa - Arica – total distance 411 km: 275 km liaison; 136 km special

Jan 10 – Stage 6: Arica – Calama – Total distance 767 km: 313 km liaison; 454 km special

Jan 11 – Stage 7: Calama – Salta (rally enters Argentina) – total distance 806 km: 586 km liaison; 220 km special

Jan 12 – Stage 8: Salta – Tucuman – total distance 738 km: 247 liaison; 491 km special

Jan 13: Rest day in Tucuman, Argentina

Dakar 2013: The second half stages

Jan 14 – Stage 9: Tucuman – Cordoba – total distance 852 km: 259 km liaison; 593 km special (longest stage of the 2013 edition)

Jan 15 – Stage 10: Cordoba – La Rioja – total distance 636 km: 279 km liaison; 357 km special

Jan 16 – Stage 11: La Rioja - Fiambala – total distance 483 km: 262 km liaison; 221 km special

Jan 17 – Stage 12: Fiambala – Copiaco (rally enters Chile) - total distance 715 km: 396 km liaison; 319 km special

Jan 18 – Stage 13: Copiaco – La Serena – total distance 735 km: 294 km liaison; 441 km special

Jan 19 – Stage 14: La Serena – Santiago– total distance 630 km: 502 liaison; 128 km special.

Jan 20 –Closing ceremony Santiago

Dakar 2013 – the numbers

Dates for start and finish of the 2011 Dakar Rally: January 5-20
Total route: 8432km (5239.4 miles)
Total timed specials: 4146km (2576 miles)
Longest distance in a single day: 852 km (Stage nine)
Shortest distance in a single day: 250 km (Stage one)
Highest point of altitude: 4800m
Average rainfall in the Atacama Desert (Chile): 0mm
Number of competitors (bikes): 196

Preview: 2013 Dakar Rally

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