“I kept improving throughout the year”

It can’t always be easy following in the footsteps of two Dakar legends. The weight of expectations when you are the son of Marek Dabrowski and are being coached by him and his lifelong friend Jacek Czachor must be huge. Fortunately, Konrad appears to be more than able to handle the pressure. Mature beyond his years, he takes it all in his stride. The proof -for his impressive Dakar debut in 2021 he finished 28th overall, 7th rookie and 3rd in the marathon class. Not bad when you consider that he finished the first stage in 47th place! On the final podium the organisers informed him that at 19 years old he was the youngest ever finisher in the bike class. Following on from that exploit the young Pole won the FIM Baja Junior World Cup and the FIM Cross Country Rally Junior World Cup. In 2022 the DUUST team rider finished 7th in class on the Dakar and was looking good for a final podium in the W2RC Rally 2 category until he caught Covid in September… It meant he struggled with his fitness on the Rally du Maroc and again in Andalucia, eventually relinquished his 3rd place to Bradley Cox.

“On the positive side I kept improving throughout the year. On all the rallies I was closer to the leaders than I was the previous year and so from that point of view I followed the plan. What wasn’t on the plan was catching Covid in Sept. It meant I wasn’t as strong as I needed to be in Oct on the Rallye du Maroc, nor in Spain at the end of that month. Now I have November and December to get back to full strength and that isn’t a very long time. I am happy with my bike riding skills but I need be fitter. My plan for next year is again to do all the championship rounds and I’m really excited by the W2RC calendar because it includes two continents, South America and North America that I’ve never visited before. Above all my goal for 2023 is to finish on the final W2RC Rally2 podium.”