Branch finished second in the just ended Dakar Rally held in Saudi Arabia from January 5-19.
He wrote his name in history books as he became the first Motswana to attain a podium finish at the race. He is also the first African to do so in 19 years since South African, Alfie Cox who finished second in 2002 and third on two occasions in 1999 and 2005. In addition, the local biker became the first Indian manufacturer, Hero MotoSports biker to get a podium place finish.
For his efforts, Branch will take home P400,000 and the figure could rise with incentives from elsewhere. The prize money for finishing second is €20,000 (around P300,000, which is equivalent to the Dakar Rally entrance fee. However the biker could in addition, earn factory team bonuses. "The incentives are not as big as you may think they would be for a race like Dakar Rally.
The money is not as good as everybody thinks it would be. But there are bonuses for it. I am not exactly sure of the total amount at the moment because it comes from the organisation of the Dakar Rally and we will only know this by the end of February. But the incentives of winning the Dakar is €50,000, the second is €20,000 and third place is €15,000 and the entry fee cost €20,000 so I basically won the entry fee back," Branch told SportMonitor over the weekend. BNSC director-sports development, Peaceful Seleka said Branch qualifies for the incentive policy and will get P100,000 for finishing second as well as P4,000 appearance fee. "He has always represented us well and this year he has done a lot much better than other years. This achievement is also as a result of the continued support to Ross by BNSC through funding in terms of incentives and allowances.
This will motivate other riders to follow in his footsteps," Seleka said. Branch has been excellent on the bike over the two week race, bagging two stage wins to take his career tally to five. He spent three days in the lead and enjoyed some interesting duels with eventual winner, Ricky Brabec of USA and Spanish rider, Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo during the course of the race.
"The whole race we had a really big fight with all the riders. Everyone was really close to the top and it was super tough every morning to keep the composure to make sure you keep your head focused and keep your head on the game. The podium was up and down, the guys were so close. I would pull a little gap and they would come back the next morning.
I just had to push as hard I could until the last kilometre and managed to ensure that we got second place, which was fantastic and one of the best feelings of my life," Branch said. He described the Dakar Rally as the toughest race of his life. He said this edition was the longest Dakar Rally he has ever competed in but he enjoyed the daily challenges that came with the race as he managed a place in the history books. "It is really cool to break a record or two, to put my name in the history books. That is nice, but the win is what we were aiming for but am really happy with second place.
I am super delighted to be the first Motswana to be in the podium ever, obviously the first time on the podium for Hero MotoSports. I am really ecstatic over that, and the first African in 19 years. It was not really much of a burden to me. I just took stage by stage, kilometre by kilometre and trying to get to the end and with good results at the end, the records that came with it," Branch said. ‘The Kalahari Ferrari’ will now have a three weeks break before the start of second round of the World Rally-Raid Championship. The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will be held from February 25 until March 2.
