Hero MotoSports kicks off Rally du Maroc with 18-year-old Shlok Ghorpade's W2RC debut
Hero MotoSports Team Rally opened its Rally du Maroc campaign in Agadir, with 18-year-old Shlok Ghorpade making his first FIM World Rally-Raid Championship start alongside Nacho Cornejo and Mike Docherty.
- over 2,600 km
- 1,500 km
- 18 km
- 18 years old
What Happened
Hero MotoSports Team Rally, the motorsport team of motorcycle and scooter maker Hero MotoCorp, kicked off its campaign for the Rally du Maroc in Agadir, an event it calls one of the most gruelling and prestigious challenges in the rally-raid calendar. The team's line-up features the debut of India's rising star Shlok Ghorpade in his first-ever FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) event, alongside the seasoned Nacho Cornejo and Mike Docherty. His debut doubles as a significant milestone for the India's Next Dakar Hero (INDH) programme.
The INDH programme is aimed at identifying, nurturing and promoting the next generation of Indian rally talent, with the ultimate goal of representing India at the toughest rally in the world, the Dakar Rally. For 18-year-old Ghorpade, inclusion in the programme has been a catalyst for rapid development, giving him professional mentorship, technical guidance and the international exposure to learn and improve while competing against the world's best. His journey to Rally du Maroc followed a promising international debut at the Spanish Rally Championship in Zaragoza, where he showed good pace and mindset, securing a podium in his opening special stage and leading for significant portions of the race.
- over 2,600 km
- 1,500 km
- 18 km
- 1st: Daniel Sanders, Red Bull KTM Factory Team, 10m 58s
- 2nd: E. Canet, Red Bull KTM Factory Team, +00m 12s
- 3rd: Ricky Brabec, Monster Energy Honda HRC, +00m 13s
- 7th: Mike Docherty, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +00m 32s
- 13th: Nacho Cornejo, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +01m 09s
- 19th: Shlok Ghorpade, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +01m 17s
“It was a really good and encouraging start in the prologue and especially for Shlok. In his first prologue, he showed good speed and strong basics to bring the bike safely home. It marks the start of a new era for Hero MotoSports with an Indian rider competing in a World championship Race for the first time. Nacho and Mike also had a good outing today showing improvement in speeds and our Hero 450 Rally also had a good outing so overall an encouraging start. But this is rally and we know that this is only the beginning of 5 long days to come. We wish for the team to bring it home every day safely. We are missing Ross here in Maroc and wish him a quick recovery so that he can return to action and the team.”
“The prologue today was an amazing experience. I got to learn a lot. As it's my first time doing a prologue and that too in a World Championship race, I focussed on executing our plan and I am glad that I did it well. So I am very happy that today went very well. The routes were really close together so I had to follow the road book closely to navigate. Thank you everyone for your love and support. It means the world to me. I am ready, excited and looking forward to my first stage tomorrow.”
Hero MotoSports says it will go into the rally with an approach that balances its pursuit of podiums with the development of a new talent pool, closely watching Ghorpade's progression. The team is missing Ross Branch, who is currently recovering from an injury. Mike Docherty said it felt good to finally start the race and brush off the nerves, describing the prologue as a little sandy with easy navigation where he just had to make sure he did not miss any waypoints. Nacho Cornejo called the prologue a short but intense stage with a lot of loose stones, said he did better than usual and improved his speed, and reported the bike performed well. In the provisional class standings, Cornejo is listed 8th in Rally GP, while Docherty is 2nd and Ghorpade 10th in Rally 2.
Why this matters
Team head Wolfgang Fischer says it marks the start of a new era for Hero MotoSports, with an Indian rider competing in a World championship race for the first time. The outing pairs the team's podium ambitions with its India's Next Dakar Hero talent push, and comes with Ross Branch absent through injury.
Terms in This Story
- Prologue
- A short opening stage of a rally-raid event that sets a rider's starting position for the first full stage of the rally.
- FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC)
- A world championship series for rally-raid racing, contested over long cross-country and desert routes.
- Special stage
- A timed competitive section of a rally-raid route that counts towards a rider's overall result.
- Road book
- The navigation document a rider follows to stay on the rally route and reach each waypoint.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.