Husqvarna

The newcomer with a lot of experience

He has already raced against the likes of Kevin Benavides, Toby Price, Lorenzo Santolino and Xavier de Soultrait, but that was in the enduro world championship not rally-raid and Romain Dumontier had a lot of talent. He was 125cc World and European champion in 2009, Brazilian champion in 2019 and was in the world top 10 for four consecutive years (from 2014 to 2018). Drawn to the Dakar during the Covid-19 epidemic and motivated by his father’s Dakar escapades from over a quarter of a century ago, the Frenchman had his first taste of rally-raid in October 2021 when he signed up for the Rallye du Maroc, prior to entering the Dakar. Romain's father was there to advice and guide him during those races and will continue to do so. With Camille Chapelière absent in Abu Dhabi for the 2nd round of the W2RC, another Frenchman with whom he regularly crossed swords at Le Touquet, "Dudu" finished 2nd behind Mason Klein. He thus dethroned his compatriot from 2nd place in the provisional general standings. The 3rd best "rookie" of the 2022 Dakar was now 19 points behind Klein. On the Rallye du Maroc for the 3 rd round, ‘Dudu’ had his 2 nd place ‘stolen’ by Bradley Cox. Not that it threatened his 2 nd place overall behind Mason Klein, already crowned champion at the end of the rally. With a 20 point lead over 3 rd placed man Konrad Dabrowski, the Frenchman goes into the last round with a comfortable cushion.