“I really want a future for Indian riders on the Dakar”
RIDER FACTS…
- His passion for motorbikes and rallying has taken over his everyday life. After working and founding several businesses, Jatin Jain has fully focused on his passion with the firm intention of competing in off-road rallies for the next 15 years.
- The Indian from Indore started racing on home soil some twenty years ago and started with motocross and supercross. To date he has over 200 podium finishes.
- Cross-country rallying wasn’t really an addiction, but he was pushed by CS Santosh, the first Indian to finish the Dakar in 2015 to give it a go despite not really liking the navigation side. Bit he eventually decided to switch to the discipline.
- After competing and gaining experience on rallies like the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the Sonora Rally or the Desfaio Ruta 40 in Argentina, it’s now time for the big one for the 46-year-old rider who will be starting the Dakar on a Kove.
- Not too worried about the difficulty of such a demanding rally, the main concern for this father of two based in Nagpur is food. Jain is indeed a pure vegetarian and might come with his own food from India just to make sure that he has everything he needs to be as efficient as possible on the bike.
AMBITION 2025
J.J.: “I was really inspired by CS Santosh who pushed me to try out cross-country rallying. I was also lucky enough to have raced many times with Aravind Prabhakar and Harith Noah (also former or current Dakar competitors) so I keep in touch with them if I have any questions concerning the Dakar. I wanted to take it easily before doing the Dakar and that’s why I gained experience on many other rallies around the world. I’ll be riding a Kove bike that I was able to race with these last few months and I feel good with it.
For sure, the Dakar is a big dream. The goal is to finish it the first time which is something Aravind and Harith failed to do. I really want a future on the Dakar for Indian riders. Of course, it’s difficult but with focus you can do it and I want to show that to the people in India.”
