Hennie de Klerk to participate in DAKAR 2019, again

Hennie de Klerk, South Africa’s DAKAR 2018 Rookie Award champion, has confirmed that he will be competing in the gruelling DAKAR 2019, taking place from 6 – 17 January 2019 in Peru.

De Klerk commented, “We didn’t think the DAKAR sand bug would bite us again, but we are excited to announce that we have committed to enter DAKAR 2019, and have started preparations in all earnest.

The DAKAR 2019 will span over 5,000 kilometers and will consist of ten stages – seven which are sand and dunes. As dunes are the toughest and most challenging part of the DAKAR, it is also my favourite part, and we will be travelling to Namibia six times to practice in the sand as the Namibian desert offers very similar conditions.”

He continues, “During DAKAR 2018 our strategy was to race at 80% of our capacity, as our goal was simply  just to finish. It was our dream to finish in the Top 30 and so we were absolutely ecstatic to end 28^th overall. For DAKAR 2019 we will aim first and foremost to complete the race, and then our objective is to improve on the 2018 results, and finish in the Top 20.”

Key facts:

• Hennie is a motorsport fanatic and has 5 years experience off-road racing
• Winner of DAKAR 2018 Rookie Award (total of 32 Rookies entered)
• 2018 marks Hennie’s 1^st participation in the DAKAR as South Africa’s only privateer
• Hennie is the first South African ever to win the DAKAR Rookie Award
• During DAKAR 2018, Hennie started in position number 54 – a noticeable accomplishment considering it was his 1^st DAKAR and he therefore didn’t have an international seeding

Follow Hennie’s progress on Facebook here.