Kalahari Rally 2021: Angola Rally Team will race the 2021 Kalahari Rally

The Angolan Raid Angola Rally Team confirmed today its participation in the third edition of the Kalahari Rally, thus starting its preparation for the 2024 Dakar Rally. 
 
The race will be held between 3 and 10 September 2021 in South Africa, in the mythical Kalahari desert. The completion of the Kalahari Rally will guarantee eligibility for the main international off-road event, the Dakar Rally. This condition, allied to its proximity, leads the team to consider this competition as the ideal challenge for the beginning of its campaign. 
 
The team already has several internationalizations in its portfolio and since 2012 has regularly participated in the Angolan Rally Raid Championship (CARR), having celebrated the title of national champion three times in the class in which it competes (SSV), and already obtained a 2nd place in a race of the Bajas world championship in 2014. 

 
According to João Lota (driver) and Nuno Santos (navigator), the Kalahari Rally will be, above all, a learning process and an adaptation to this longer and more demanding race model, to better prepare for the Dakar Rally 2024.  
 
The duo will face some daily stages with distances superior to 900km, a condition which will demand the permanent safeguard of the mechanics of the car. Besides the long distances, they consider that the main challenge will be navigation, which is why they underwent intensive training in July with the Portuguese driver Pedro Bianchi Prata, former Assistant Manager of the official Honda team, 10 times Dakar Rally finalist and 4th place in the SSV category in 2020. 
 
The team's ambition is to complete the 6 days of the race without any constraints and argues that the learning acquired will be the main goal it intends to take away from this challenge. As such, the approach will above all be cautious, adapting its pace according to the evolution of the race and taking advantage of any opportunity that makes it possible to achieve an outstanding final classification. 
 
The Angola Rally Team is entered in the SXS category, with a CAN-AM Maverick X3 vehicle, and will have the assistance service of the South African team "MOTO-NETIX", winner of the 2nd edition of the Kalahari Rally and South African off-road champion in 2019. 

Automatic translation of the official press release