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Montreal Team ALDO racing in grueling Dakar rally

David Bensadoun and co-driver Patrick Beaulé will race in the 2014 edition of the grueling Dakar.

ALDO Racing Range Rover Desert Warrior 3

ALDO Racing Range Rover Desert Warrior 3

ALDO Racing

Montreal, November 24, 2013.– ALDO Racing is proud to announce today that driver David Bensadoun and co-driver Patrick Beaulé will race in the 2014 edition of the grueling Dakar, the classic 13-day off-road race across Argentina and Chile. The most difficult automobile sporting event in the world, the Dakar covers 9000 km, starting on January 5 from Rosario, Argentina and ending on January 18 at Valparaiso, Chile, after racing across the Andes mountains and deserts.

Over 450 cars, motorcycles, ATVs, trucks and buggies will take the start and race over 5000 km of timed closed sections and 4000 km of liaison on their way to the finish in Valparaiso. Competitors, team support and organiser personnel spend every night at one of two Bivouacs that jump over each other and spring up for one night. The next morning, that bivouac is torn down and leaves for the the next day’s arrival point. Teram stay at the bivouac overnight for repairs, food, personnal attention and to prepare their route documents for the next stage. Teams are on the road from seven hours on a perfect fast day to 18 hours or more when problems occur. Mechanics and spare parts travel in trucks and follow the rally or parallel routes, and suffer from fatigue as much or more than the participants.

According to driver David Bensadoun, ALDO Racing is also racing to push an anti-Aids initiative. "ALDO is urging everyone (and their friends) to join in its continued fight against AIDS with the launch of a new fundraising and awareness campaign: #FRIENDSFIGHT. The campaign kicks off at the Dakar Rally, where the ALDO Racing team is on a mission to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS as they navigate their way from Argentina to Chile in the annual 15-day off-road endurance race. ALDO has been actively involved in the fight against AIDS for almost 30 years and has raised more than $10 million for international AIDS programs."

This will be the third Dakar race for both David and Patrick. The team will use a purpose-built Desert Warrior 3 prepared in England and tested in Morocco, Spain and in England over the last few months.

According to David Bensadoun, an experienced racer on two and four wheels, "Dakar 2014 will be an incredible challenge. The organizers have made the course longer and harder this year than in the recent past. This is great news for us as Patrick and I come from an enduro racing background and in that world the tougher it is the more we like it! Patrick and I are younger than the average team and we are training very hard to make sure we can handle anything they throw at us."

With two Dakar finishes under his belt, one as a top independant motorcycle rider in 2013, co-driver Patrick Beaulé is aiming for a top-30 finish amongst the cars teams. "We have done the preparation work and have the tools and the team to do well. I feel it will pay back!" As a team, David and Patrick won the "Best Rookie Team" award in 2012 and are the only Canadian team to ever have finished the Dakar in the car category.

Team ALDO

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