Arriving at the Dakar with the same strategy that rewarded him with a silver medal in the 2021 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, Adrien Van Beveren has approached each stage with a strong focus on ensuring precise navigation, minimising mistakes, and taking each day as it comes. Thus far, the Frenchman’s game plan is certainly paying off with consistent results on each day placing Adrien fourth in the provisional standings, just under eight minutes from the leader with a further six stages to go.
Despite his serious setback on stage one when Andrew Short, along with many other competitors, struggled to find a troublesome way point, the American has since set about making up for lost time. After entering stage two ranked 16th, Andrew, much like his teammate Adrien, has posted consistently strong stage results, including three top-10 finishes, and is now just over one minute away from the overall top 10 in 11th.
For Camelia Liparoti competing in the Light Prototype class, the Yamaha YXZ1000R Prototype driver has enjoyed a strong opening week of racing at the Dakar Rally. With a further six stages to complete, Camelia is placed ninth in the provisional standings.
Week two at the 2022 Dakar looks set to be just as challenging as the first, if not more so. With a scheduled 1,964 kilometres of racing remaining, the competition is certainly far from over. With Adrien and Andrew lining up for stage seven tomorrow with favourable starting positions on what will be a sand dune heavy special, they’re both poised to advance up the leaderboard and move one step closer towards the event’s finish line in Jeddah, on January 14.
