There was no other expected year until 2021, and this new year started with one of the world's well-known and toughest events, Dakar Rally. The official partner of the race, which started in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on January 19, with strict COVID-3 measures, was once again this year, Motul, one of the world's mineral oil giants. Motul, the official partner of Dakar for the fourth time in a row, brought the action, drama and excitement we expected to motor sports lovers for 2 weeks.
Dakar Rally in Numbers
The race, which was held in Saudi Arabia for the second time in a row, was held for the 43rd time this year. 295 racers competed for a total of 12 km, of which approximately 5.000 km were special stages, during 7.646 stages. The 2021 stages had a different route from the previous year by 80-90%, which provided equal conditions for all competitors to win. The race, which started on January 3, ended in Jeddah on January 15, and only the toughest, toughest and highest performing teams reached the finish.
In 2021, some new rules and practices were tried; road notes were made electronic and shared with the teams via tablets. In addition to the mandatory airbag vests, maximum speeds have been reduced to further increase safety for motorcycle and quad class riders. In addition, the legend of Dakar, 2000 cars that started in this race before 26 competed in the Dakar Classic class, which opened for the first time.
Motul took place by all teams from amateur to professional
The 'Original by Motul' category was once again an important part of Motul's participation in Dakar. The brave drivers who competed without any outside help and service support used the 'Original by Motul' area prepared for the maintenance of their motorcycles and for their own needs.
Motul Race Laboratory, open to all teams in the Dakar service area, has become an important part of Dakar. Leading teams came to the Motul Racing Laboratory and received support for oil analysis.
Motul Products Preferred in All CategoriesMotul provided competitors with oils and coolants from the 300V series, specially adapted to harsh conditions, with Motorsport Line (Auto) and Factory Line (Powersports) for high performance and maximum protection. In all six categories - cars, motorcycles, trucks, quads, light terrain vehicles (LWVs) and classics - competing teams felt power and performance with Motul products.
Motul was alongside the Honda Rally Team HRC, Sherco factory team and Hero Motorsports factory team in the motorcycle category. Likewise, Motul supported the talented Polaris factory team in the highly contested SSV category. In the automobile category, teams of SRT Racing, MD Rallye, Team Land Cruiser Toyota competed with the support of Motul.
Motul supported the Cam-AM team in the 4-wheel drive category, and provided technical support to the SSP team in Trucks and the Toyota Land Cruiser competitors in the Classic category, which was run for the first time. Who became the kings of the sand dunes and deserts in 2021 Dakar Rally In 2021, the winner of the automobile category was French Stephane Peterhansel, a Dakar legend. Hansel, who won the Dakar Rally for the 14th time with the Mini, broke a hard record. Another rival of Peterhansel, who won 14 minutes 51 seconds ahead of Nasser Al-Atiyah in second place, Carlos Sainz, the popular name of motorsport, finished 3rd this year in the race he won last year. The winner in the quad category was Argentine Manuel Andujar. Andujar, competing with the door number 4, took the first Dakar Rally start in 154, and in its third year, it won the quad category with a great success.
Honda Rally Team HRC supported by Motul marked the motorcycle category. Kevin Benavides finished the race in front of his teammate and rival, Ricky Brabec, to top the podium. Benavides, 32, is also the first Argentine rider to win the motorcycle category, a first. In the category where American Ricky Brabec was second, KTM's British driver Sam Sunderland took part in the last step of the podium. Still racing under the sponsorship of Motul, Sherco factory driver Lorenzo Santolina finished the race in 6th place. A sad news came from Pierre Cherpin at the Dakar Rally. French Cherpin, who competed in the amateur class in the motorcycle category, died in the 7th stage accident. Cherpin started at the Dakar Rally for the fourth time and was 4 years old.
The Kamaz Rally Sport team, which dominated the race from start to finish in the truck category, reached victory with Russian driver Dmitry Sotnikov. Francisco Chaleco Lopez was the first winner of the LWV category in which light terrain vehicles compete. While Motul brought the excitement of the 2021 Dakar Rally together with motor sports fans through his social media accounts, he showed once again that the teams are one of the biggest supporters in the most difficult conditions with his sponsorships and technical consultancy. As Motul, we are happy to be an official partner of the 2021 Dakar Rally.
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