Two participations, two Dakar's successfully completed. There were more than 8,000 kilometers, 5,000 of which were timed, in a total of almost 70 hours of competition that the rider registered by Frutas Patrícia Pilar competed in at the controls of a Husqvarna 450 Rally, overcoming adversity and facing all the challenges - and there were many - that he was faced with throughout a particularly tough edition.
It was a Dakar characterized by a devastating first part, which included a 48-hour stage followed by a marathon stage. The second part - fortunately less problematic - was largely contested in the demanding dunes of the Empty Quarter, one of the largest deserts on the planet and the largest continuous area of sand in the world. Today's final timed special, just 61 km long, was “really beautiful” for the Momento TT rider. It was all over dunes that were great fun to drive over, with some speed and lots of jumps. And to be here today at the finish is magnificent”.
Looking back, the Torres Vedras driver said: “I started this Dakar very well, I was looking forward to it. I started with good results in the prologue, in the first stage. I had a good pace, although sometimes the results didn't reflect what the race was like, but I had good times. It got a bit complicated when I started to have some problems, such as: dirt in the fuel in the fourth stage and the fifth, the marathon stage, in which I rode for two days for about 600 km of special until I ended up with one of the handlebar supports broken. I had no control over the bike, I had to find a way to fix it as much as possible, which forced me to stop several times. The fact that the handlebars weren't properly attached to the bike meant that I fell off a few times too. Then I had problems with the fuel tank, which ruptured. I had to transfer fuel to the bike several times over those two days, which were particularly tough because of this situation. There were also stages where I arrived at the bivouac at night. It's difficult to ride a motorcycle at night on these special stages. There were times when I even had to take fuel from other bikes that were stranded in the desert due to breakdowns and the riders were no longer there, another time when I dismantled a clamp from a rider's car that was already out of the race, to hold things on my bike,” says Bruno Santos, who despite all these setbacks, is satisfied with his performance in this Dakar:
“It was a very physical two weeks, very intense, it was a very tough Dakar. For me, many adversities made it even tougher. I'm happy to have been able to overcome the obstacles, to have found a way to manage. It was a great challenge, but at the same time I have a feeling of great achievement. Although the result wasn't what I wanted at the start, finishing this Dakar with all the stages completed, being a Dakar fisnisher makes me very happy. The Dakar is relentless, it was strong, it gave us a lot of fight, but I played my part: I always fought until the end and brought the bike to the finish,” says the rider.
The 47th edition of the Dakar Rally kicked off on January 3rd. There were 14 days of pure competition, including a prologue and 12 stages, some of which were truly devastating for riders and machines.
Automatic translation of the Portuguese version
Source: Bruno Santos / A2 Comunicação
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