admin
Collin Matiza Sports Editor
ASHLEY Thixton finally arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after a long flight from Zimbabwe and immediately went for a shakedown yesterday morning ahead of the 2024 Dakar Rally which roars into life tomorrow.
Competing in his first Dakar Rally under the nine-member HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing team, the 30-year-old Zimbabwean motorbike rider is ready to shake things up in the Rally2 Class of the heavily subscribed bikes section of the biggest and toughest motor rallying event in the world which is set to run from tomorrow to January 19.
Thixton and his fellow members of the HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing team are kitted and ready to go as they prepare to take their places among 137 male and female motorbike riders, drawn from around the world, who have entered the bikes section of this year’s Dakar Rally.
The other members of the HT Rally Husqvarna Racing squad are the 2023 W2RC Rally3 champion Ardit Kurtaj of Albania/Austria, Belgian Joris van Dyck, American Weston Carr, Belgians Gwen Backx and Pierre Saeys, Uruguayan Fabian von Thuengen, Ganzorig Chuluun of Mongolia and South African Charan Moore.
The Zimbabwean rider and his teammates also went for scrutineering yesterday morning in the Saudi city of Al-Ulah before testing their bikes as they prepare to tackle the Saudi Arabian dunes for 14 days, aiming to just last the distance in this gruelling motorsport event.
Thixton said he really enjoyed himself after he briefly acclimatized himself to the conditions in Al-Ulah yesterday morning, getting a taste of what’s to come from tomorrow to January 19.
‘’I’m just back from the shakedown and the bike is incredible. I did three little loops of 20km and I just enjoyed the bike straight away. The team was there during every lap and we made some small changes to the height of the back brake.
‘’But I really enjoyed every minute of the shakedown… There were some awesome dunes but I had some fun out there. I slept well last night and I’m feeling good,’’ said Thixton, yesterday.
Although he will not be going for an outright victory, Thixton said his main aim is to be among the finishers at the business end of this year’s Dakar Rally on January 19 and write his own piece of history as he will become the second Zimbabwean biker to last the distance at this tough event after Graeme Sharp who achieved this feat in 2020.
The rally remains one of motorsport’s most fearsome challenges and Thixton acknowledged before he left for Saudi Arabia on Monday that competing in this event will be no walk in the park for him.
It doesn’t come easy with high temperatures and even higher dunes!
But Thixton just wants to enjoy the adventure as he raises the Zimbabwean flag at this year’s Dakar Rally.
Hoping to simply finish for his first appearance, he recently said his goal might then be to come back alongside his younger brother, Cameron.
Thixton recently said: “The ultimate dream was to do the Dakar. I honestly don’t know what to expect. It’s 100 percent new and I would just like to get through this one. It certainly excites me. The goal after would be to open the gate for my younger brother. The Dakar really is a lifetime dream and it’s taken three years and a massive financial hurdle to cross.”
The rally hasn’t raced to Dakar itself since security threats in Mauritania forced the event’s cancellation in 2008. It moved to South America until 2019, and has been held in Saudi Arabia since 2020.
The 2024 route includes a long stint in the Empty Quarter, an enormous sand desert in the Arabian Peninsula, as well as crossing great distances into other parts of the country.
The Dakar is also the opening round of the 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, with four further events on four different continents culminating in the Rallye du Maroc finale in the Moroccan dunes in October.
The Dakar is a rally-raid event, epic in terms of scale, distance and scenery. There is one stage per day, including one or more special-stage sections, each stage being several hundred kilometres long with waypoints the vehicles must pass through on the route.
Fastest time wins, although competitors are often subject to penalties (for missing waypoints, for example), and gaps between cars often total minutes or even hours, rather than seconds (or tenths of seconds) as in cross-country rallies.
It’s a navigational challenge just as much as it is a driving one, and crews do not know the exact route until they are given a roadbook by the organisers at the start of each stage.
There are classes for cars, bikes, quads, trucks (including the support vehicles for the cars) and classic cars and trucks in the separate Dakar Classic classification too. Altogether, 425 vehicles and 137 motorbikes will tackle this year’s event.
Online Reporter