“You prepare for so long and it’s over in a few hours”
RIDER FACTS…
- Ashish Raorane is no factory rider. He spends most of his time on boats as a marine engineer. As a kid he started riding on the old rusty bike of his father. Several decades later he was participating in a cross-country rally in the Himalayas that gave him that taste and desire for the Dakar.
- The rider from Mumbai took on his first Dakar in 2021 wanting to show his compatriots at home that it as possible for a normal biker to compete in the biggest rally-raid in the world. Sadly, that first experience ended after a crash on day 5.
- After that first experience in the Original by Motul class, this very competitive table-tennis player back in his youth returned to the Dakar but this time within a team (Xraids Experience). The issue unfortunately was the same as for his previous attempt. As soon as stage 1, the 43-year-old crashed and broke his collarbone.
- Still on the same team and after having a long period of recovery, Raorane returns for unfinished business. He will again be riding a KTM as part of the Xraids Experience team.
AMBITION 2025
A.R.: “A friend of mine was at home and he showed me a documentary about the Baja 1000. We were both fascinated. That’s what pushed me to compete. In 2015, I did my first cross-country rally in the Himalayas. I then built on that experience with the aim to one day do the Dakar. I followed the Dakar thanks to CS Santosh. He was an inspiration. I raced with him in India and he’s been very helpful. But it seemed that only Indian factory riders were able to do the Dakar and my idea was to change that perspective and show that a privateer like me can do it. My experience at the first Dakar was bitter sweet. Being my first Dakar, and in the Original by Motul category, I knew it was going to be tough but I was happy with how I was managing my race. The unfortunate accident on stage 5 took me out of the running.
I’m looking forward to Dakar 2025. The recovery was super tough after my crash on stage 1 of the 2024 Dakar. I think that more than the recovery of the body, the mental side took a little bit longer. You prepare for so long for the Dakar and it’s all over after a few hours. That’s a hard pill to swallow. I’ve been preparing hard. I did the Baja Aragon and then the Rallye du Maroc. That was really good for my 2025 preparation. I was really happy to get a finish at the end of a very difficult race in Morocco. It makes me a bit more confident.”
