Saudi Arabia is going to host the upcoming Dakar 2020 marking the entry of one of the most challenging motorsports in the world in the Middle East. This relocation has made the Rally easily accessible for plenty of talented riders in the region. Vendetta Racing, a popular name here in the UAE, has announced that it is definitely going to participate in this Dakar.
Vendetta Racing is the UAE’s largest privately-owned motorcycle racing team. It has confirmed that it would send six riders to contest in the Dakar 2020 Rally. Vendetta has participated and won many rallies in the past and now since the Dakar is much closer than ever before, it doesn’t want to miss this opportunity.
Alan Boyter, Vendetta Racing’s founder and manager, said, “The Dakar Rally is one of the biggest challenges, not only in motorsport but in world sport. Until now racing the Dakar has been out of our reach, but with the news that the rally is leaving South America after eleven years for a new era in Saudi Arabia, we realised we couldn’t let this chance pass us by.”
Also read: Dakar 2020 registration is now open
“Vendetta is committed to entering the strongest regional team into this event and our preparations are well underway. As you can imagine, the logistics for an event like this are immense. This is not a cheap undertaking and we will be looking for sponsors and supporters. Our riders will also embark on training programmes in order to withstand the physical punishment of racing 9,000km through some of the world’s toughest terrain.”
Riders from Vendetta have completed a number of overseas events, including the Africa Eco Race, which follows the spirit of the original Paris-Dakar Rally route, most rounds of the FIM Cross Country World Championship including Qatar, Chile and Morocco and all the local Baja events. Prior to racing offroad events, Vendetta competed in a host of track and road-based events including the Isle of Man road race.
Out of the six riders who will represent Vendetta Racing in the Dakar 2020, two have been confirmed as Dave McBride – a 21-time Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge participant and has also competed at the Roof of Africa Rally, Botswana Toyota 1000 and the Qatar, Chilean and Moroccan rounds of the FIM Cross Country World Championship – and David Mabbs – an accomplished rally driver turned biker who was most recently seen finishing a highly credible ninth in class at the 2019 Africa Eco-Rally, an event which traces the spirit of the original Paris-Dakar Rally. Mabbs has competed in 16 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenges and went on to contest the Qatari, Chilean and Moroccan rounds of the FIM Cross Country World Championship in 2018.
The Dakar 2020 will start from Jeddah on 5th January. It might seem to you like a lot of time from now for preparations but trust us it’s not. Dakar is something you can’t fully prepare for. It’s a dynamic test of both the man and the machine. We wish good luck to Vendetta Racing UAE.
