Branch is the most successful biker in the TDR with seven titles in eight years. The biker has, however, missed the last three editions. This week, Branch confirmed to MmegiSport that he will race at the 2023 edition of the TDR to be held from June 23 to 25.
He said he is in talks with his factory team, Hero MotoSports to bring his team to Botswana. “Definitely, I will be there. Hopefully, it will be on my Hero rally bike and we could be doing the road book with the rally bike that we raced with at Dakar.
I am hoping to bring the whole team; there are discussions that our whole team will be coming to the race, so we are really hoping for this. If I am not on a bike, who knows? Maybe I can be in car racing but definitely, I will be at the desert race,” Branch said. The TDR, popularly known as Mantshwabisi returns to Jwaneng after a five-year absence.
The 36-year-old cannot hide his excitement as he said the race should not be ‘lost’ as it brings a lot of opportunities to the country. “I am so happy. I think this is huge for Botswana. I do not think we should be allowed to lose it again. This is a big stepping-stone for international racing for anybody in Botswana. I think this also opens a lot of opportunities for sponsorships and for people to enhance and better their careers in motorcycle racing. So it is the best thing for sport and motorsport for it to come back to Botswana and I am really happy,” he said.
Branch was speaking to MmegiSport from Dubai, where is readying for round two of the 2023 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). The ‘Kalahari Ferrari’ is on the starting list of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge that starts tomorrow and goes on until March 3. Branch is on the 11th spot with eight points in the W2RC rankings ahead of round two after his exploits in round one, which was the Dakar Rally.
He is, however, worried about the competition in the starting list as he seeks to earn points to finish higher in the general rankings. “Preparations have been difficult. There has not been much time between the Dakar Rally and Abu Dhabi to do some testing and everything. So I have been in Dubai now for a week just to try and do some testing and make sure that the bike is 100% and I am 100%,” he said. “The target is to get into the Top 10, the pace is very high at the moment. Everybody is going very fast, so it is going to be s strong competition but it's good competition,” Branch added.
