Shardul Becomes the Only Indian to Bag Red Bull Ace of Dirt!

Shardul Shah Sharma, hailing from Uttarakhand made India proud by being the only Indian to get the podium in the third edition of the Red Bull Ace of Dirt.

The third edition of the Red Bull Ace of Dirt, held at the Big Rock Dirtpark in Bengaluru, was won by Spanish rider Peru Irazola Arbulu. Sandra Gomez, the SuperEnduro world champion, finished second, while Shardul Sharma was the highest-ranked Indian racer.

The circuit, which includes Motocross, Enduro, and Dirt track elements, is one of the Red Bull Ace of Dirt’s primary attractions. The 1.2-kilometre track was planned by rally legend CS Santosh, and it included several additional obstacles this year to make it even more difficult.

The Mud Pie – a steep downhill slope with a puddle of slush at the bottom followed by a steep uphill climb, the Splatter – a near-vertical climb followed by tractor tyres set in varying sizes, and the newly added Wall Ride, which is essentially a 45-degree angle wall placed right next to a bed of rocks, forcing the rider to choose between the wall and the rocks. The track, according to CS Santosh, “mimics the standards that an athlete must meet in order to complete a rally like Dakar.”

This year, the number of participants more than doubled to nearly 60. International riders like SuperEnduro world champion Sandra Gomez and 2021 Dakar Malle Moto winner Arunaz Gelazninkas competed for the first time. This provided an opportunity for Indian motorcyclists to compete against and learn from some of the greatest foreign riders. Joaquim Rodrigues, a rally racer with Hero MotoSports and a Dakar stage winner, was also on hand to assist all participants. The majority of the riders were on Hero XPulse 200s or Impulses.

The riders were separated into batches of ten on the first day of the event, and the five quickest riders from each batch advanced to the super final the next day. To make it to the top 16, the 36 remaining riders battled in four separate heats.

Peru Irazola Arbulu, a Spanish enduro racer, won the race overall with a timing of 18mins 49.578secs. With a time of 21mins 59.117secs, Gomez came in second. With a timing of 22mins 49.156secs, Shardul Sharma of Uttarakhand took the last podium slot. Yuva Kumar and Mahesh VM, both previous Red Bull Ace of Dirt champions, competed this year and finished 7th and 10th, respectively.