Dakar 2024 – Hero, 2nd but not least!

Tears stream down Ross Branch's cheeks as he hugs his father Kevin. This is in stark contrast to the usual face of the Botswana driver – a big smile plastered on his face, eyes twinkling, by far the happiest man in the Dakar bivouac, shouting a cheery “Hello!” How are you doing? » to everyone who passes in front of him. However, if there's ever a time when you can let your emotions get the best of you, this is it.

After all, Branch has just finished a glorious second place in the Rally Dakar 2024. Along the way, he gave Hero MotoSports Team Rally a historic first-ever Dakar podium. And it’s no coincidence either. He has led the Motorcycle category of the 2024 Dakar four times, won two stages, one of which – stage 11 – on some of the most difficult terrain of the entire event, and he has never slipped below from second place in the general classification. After twelve intense days of rallying, countless days of preparation, training, injuries and recovery, the emotional release is completely justified.

To my left, I see Jon Berenguer, the team massage therapist who did his best to keep Branch in shape throughout the event, quietly trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. He is not the only one. Every member of the Hero Team assembled at the end of Stage 12 is overcome with emotion. They hug, pat each other on the back, smile, laugh, cry, but few words are exchanged. Because in the face of what they have managed to accomplish, words seem insufficient. Fighting neck and neck with Honda – whose combination of racing experience and technical prowess should not be underestimated – made them the darlings of the bivouac. Yes, the 2024 Dakar was a true story of David versus Goliath. No wonder team members are so overwhelmed. Looking at them, I feel a curious moisture begin to build in my own eyes, and I'm suddenly very grateful to be wearing sunglasses.

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Who would have thought that an Indian company that started out manufacturing bicycles in the 1950s could one day stand on the podium of the Dakar Rally, one of the toughest off-road events in the world? Certainly not me. For me, the Dakar was Ari Vatanen at the wheel of a Peugeot 405 T16, crisscrossing the Sahara. It was Stéphane Peterhansel, Mr Dakar himself, on a Yamaha YZE 850 T covering impossible terrain as if nothing had happened. They were Citroëns, KTMs, Mitsubishis, Hondas and powerful Kamaz trucks. This was not a motorcycle manufacturer whose ubiquitous 100cc offering – the Splendor – was the very antithesis of all things motorsport. We are far from everything that one might associate with this slightly crazy rally-raid imagined by Thierry Sabine and aptly described as “A challenge for those who go there. A dream for those who stay.

Well, it turns out that India's largest motorcycle manufacturer prefers challenges over dreams. And I wasn't afraid of change. In 2010, the motorcycle arm of the company – which had started as a joint venture between Hero and Honda in 1984 – became Hero MotoCorp. In 2011, they launched their first off-road bike, the Impulse; which was perhaps, in retrospect, a sign of intent. In 2015, Indian rider CS Santosh competed in the Dakar Rally as a privateer, astride a Kini RedBull KTM Rally 450, and finished in a rather credible 36th place overall, leading to increased interest in the Dakar Rally in the country. In 2016, Hero MotoSports Team Rally was formed, with CS Santosh and Joaquim "J-Rod" Rodrigues announced as drivers. In 2017, the team participated in its first ever Dakar Rally. After seven Dakars, after some significant ups and downs, the relatively small team has proven that it has what it takes to compete fairly with the powerful Japanese and Austrians who have recently dominated the motorcycle category. In fact, the entire bivouac took note. As one team member says: “A few years ago, no one knew who we were. But now everyone knows who Hero is. And everyone wants to see us beat the biggest teams. Slowly and steadily, the goals seem to have changed. Although, as I quickly learn, there is still time to think about it.

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“We don't think about next year's goal. First, we need to finish this one. We still have one day of racing left,” says Wolfgang Fischer, the man at the head of the Hero's Dakar project. “Wafi,” as everyone at the bivouac affectionately calls him, is one of the most respected names in the world of dirt bike racing. He is also, without a doubt, the architect of Team Hero's success. But long before launching into the world of rally raids himself, he was an economics student with a penchant for motorsport. “When I was at university, we followed the route of the Dakar Rally in Africa with our motorcycles. And that’s when we really got infected with the ‘rally bug’,” he laughs. It's the kind of affliction for which there is clearly no cure...

…After all, in the thirty years since his first contact with the Dakar, Wafi has repeatedly led Speedbrain GmbH – the off-road racing company he founded – to a World Championship title. FIM Enduro World; oversaw Husqvarna's Dakar efforts (the team scored two stage victories in its 2011 debut courtesy of Paulo "Speedy" Goncalves); led the Honda factory team's Dakar operations, and more. In fact, Wafi says of his career: "Sometimes when I look back, I think I had the courage to say, 'Of course I can do it.' Of course we will. » Although there is still a day to go before Hero takes a phenomenal second step on the Dakar podium, it is clear that Wafi's willingness to take on a challenge is an approach that seems to be working in rallying. raid world.

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“Every day I make Ross a peanut butter sandwich cut in half for him to take on stage,” Victor Oliveira explains. “Some days he eats it, other days he doesn’t. » The former Dakar competitor works with Team Hero during the rally, looking after each rider's gear, making sure the team's campers are organized and making sure each rider has access to specific snacks he enjoys. With three of Hero's four motos out of the count (Joaquim 'JRod' Rodrigues dropping out with fractured fingers after a crash on stage 1, Sebastian Bühler with a fractured vertebra after a crash on stage 3, and Joan Barreda Bort forced to retire due to mechanical problems on stage 6) he focused most of his attention on Branch. A rider who seems very popular in bivouac. So much so that Oliveira tells me that almost everyone wants Branch to win the Dakar simply “because he’s a nice guy.”

And nice seems like an apt way to describe the Botswana horseman. Ross Branch really does seem as healthy as those peanut butter sandwiches (which he says are his "comfort food") that he snacked on for energy during the 2024 Dakar. No protein bars or energy gels for the “Kalahari Ferrari ", Thanks a lot. But cuteness and dietary requirements aside, Branch is extremely fast and has had a rather mercurial rise in the rally raid world. In 2019, the year of his Dakar debut, he finished 13th in the general classification and won the title of Best Rookie. His father, Kevin, tells me that they financed part of this trip to the Dakar by selling tickets for concerts in the family barn. “We packed the place. We really ran out of places. But people didn’t care, they just wanted to contribute,” he says. In 2020, still private, he won his first stage victory on the Dakar. In 2023, finally under the colors of Hero MotoSports, he scored two stage victories for the team. His performance in 2024 seems like a natural progression. It’s that of a high-level athlete on a high-level motorcycle. It's also a question of timing.

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“With Paulo, of course, the plan at the time was to build a winning bike, with J-Rod. They were the dream team for us,” Wafi says of the two Portuguese Hero riders who were also related to each other. But the heartbreaking truth is that there is no place where the old adage – “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry” – is more applicable than the Dakar. Goncalves suffered a fatal accident during stage 7 of the 2020 Dakar Rally, forcing the team to withdraw from the event. They took the time to regroup and focus on developing the new Hero MotoSports 450 Rally from scratch, around a prototype engine. They worked on the mass balancing, suspension and cooling systems, all of which were improved, and the fuel tank capacity was increased. Hero also ultimately invested heavily in the development of a new fly-by-wire throttle control system to help electronically limit the top speed to 160 km/h (in accordance with Dakar regulations). And also to limit the speed to 30 or 50 km/h depending on safety requirements on certain stages, which the riders appreciate because it allows them to keep their eyes on the road and the navigation, instead of having to constantly keep an eye on on the road. on the speedometer. Perhaps the best test of the 450 Rally's durability will come during Stage 6 – the 48-hour marathon of the 2024 Dakar. To say it's a grueling stage would be an understatement, but Branch's No. 46 bike survives the 835 kilometers without metaphorically sweating too much.

Wafi says the revisions and improvements that transformed their rally bike into the current challenger (dare I say formidable) it has become are thanks to J-Rod. “He has always been recognized for his analytical feedback,” explains Wafi. “It doesn't just tell you if the bike is good or not so good, but it tells you exactly what you need to work on to improve it. » This helped the team move from small steps to giant leaps. And by the time a rider of Branch's caliber came along, the bike was extremely competitive. Then there was an added layer of experience brought to the team by Barreda Bort, a Dakar legend with 30 stage wins under his belt, but no overall victory. “The idea was, since he is at the end of his career, to bring him back and provide us with lessons and contributions,” continues Wafi. In the Hero garage however, JRod is the only non-competition driver who chose to stay back and cheer on Branch and the rest of the team. As he says: “The hero grows.” We are still a small team compared to other teams, but we do a great job, we are like a family. And when it's like that, it works.

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A family straddling two continents, two different time zones and incredibly complex projects.

While Hero MotoSports Team Rally began as a collaboration between Hero MotoCorp and Speedbrain Gmbh, the bonds between them have only grown stronger over the years. The Speedbrain facility in Stephanskirchen is now the Hero Technology Center Germany. This facility is where all of Hero's future motorsport projects are developed, although closely guarded. And some technologies developed here, which are expected to be used in the upcoming Hero motorcycles, are being put to the test in pre-production motorcycles that are competing in the Indian National Championship. As Wafi says: “It’s a fruitful synergy”.

But the Hero MotoSports Team Rally family doesn't just straddle two continents, it's a melting pot of cultures. The 16-person team I'm meeting at the Dakar includes members from India, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Botswana, Finland, and more. Do you think this could sometimes lead to some chaos? But I am amazed that, even with just one very critical day on the Dakar, there is an air of calm in the garage. It has to do with Wafi's philosophy of running a racing team, where the key, as he says, is simply to "get the best people in and let them do the best job they can do in their field." ". Of course, there is underlying intention, not tension, in the Hero Garage. “Guys don’t need a lot of instruction,” he said. “Each of these guys knows their job exactly. Maybe that makes things calmer. But he adds: “We don't have as many people as the other teams. We have maybe a third of the people and support vehicles from Honda or KTM. More labor equals more labor, but not necessarily more quality.

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It's easy to understand what Wafi is talking about on the Dakar podium. If the Hero Team is a family of 16, the Honda team is practically an entire village. And it took all the know-how and expertise of Hero to lead the fight for victory throughout the rally, from the first to the very last stage of the rally. The competition was so close that over the 873 kilometers between Riyadh and Al Duwadimi, Branch was behind Brabec by just one second. It's frankly surreal. At the very end of the rally, Branch was 10 minutes and 53 seconds behind Brabec, which for around 7 kilometers is nothing.

Finishing second after such a close battle is a remarkable result for a team as young as Hero MotoSports, especially considering Honda's racing heritage. For Ross Branch himself, as for a large part of the team, the Dakar podium is a “dream come true”. It’s a validation of all the hard work he’s done. And this is proof that he gave absolutely everything. As he says: “Yes, the race is long, but it only lasts 14 days a year. You need to put everything you have into these 14 days to make sure you leave with no regrets.

From what I see, there is celebration and joy on the Dakar podium. There is an Indian flag fluttering in the breeze. And there is a tired but happy team that has given the Dakar bivouac another reason to sit up and pay attention to the underdogs. No, there are no regrets. Not even if this time Goliath won.

Vaishali Dinakaran, special correspondent on the Dakar 2024

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