Sharp on 2020 Dakar Rally preps

Raymond Jaravaza

WITH six months to go before the 2020 Dakar Rally, which will be making its debut in Saudi Arabia in January, Zimbabwean motorbike rally racer Graeme Sharp says he has to date funded a portion of the total budget from his pocket. 

The 2020 Dakar Rally, a 9 000km race over 14 days on the Arabian Peninsula, is the first edition of the gruelling race to be held in Saudi Arabia and scheduled to run from 5 to 19 January. 

A rest day is planned for 11 January in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital and financial hub. 

Motorbike rally racer Sharp, a former Falcon College student, said he had managed to raise a third of the US$160 000 needed for the race. 

“Typically, Dakar budgets range from US$160 000 and up. Having spent several years preparing, much has been self-funded to this point, with at least a third from my own funds and to get to the start line, our remaining fundraising target is to source the difference by November. 

“I’m currently approaching corporates for sponsorship and organising fundraising events to raise the needed funds. I am looking forward to flying Zimbabwe’s flag on the global stage,” Sharp told an international news agency. 

Sharp is aiming to become the first Zimbabwean to finish the second largest motorsport event in the world, with 137 motorbikes from 60 nationalities battling for honours in the iconic event widely regarded as the ultimate test of man and machine. 

Sharp did well in two big qualifying competitions — the Sonora Rally in Mexico and the Merzouga Rally in Morocco — to seal a place at the principal off-road endurance event in the world.

He says he has recovered from the two qualifying events and is looking forward to the physical and mental preparations for the 2010 Dakar rally. 

The Dakar Rally has been held in South America since 2009. The gruelling multi-stage rally was previously held in Africa but was relocated after terrorist threats in Mauritania in 2008.

For the first time since its inception the race has been moved to the Middle East, with Dakar Rally director David Castera describing the relocation to Saudi Arabia as “a voyage into the unknown”.

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