A half-hour documentary on the Race2Recovery team’s assault on the Dakar Rally 2014 will debut on British Eurosport this Saturday (May 3) at 7:30pm.
Dakar Rally 2014: Race2Recovery is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Dakar Rally: Frontline to Finish Line and follows a team of amputee and seriously injured servicemen as they take on the toughest rally on the planet.
The 2013 Dakar Rally saw Race2Recovery become the first team of amputees to ever complete the event, and 2014 saw them return to do it all over again. The 2014 event saw them have to take on 9000km of Argentinian and Chilean terrain, ranging from giant sand dunes to the Atacama Desert and the top of the Andes.
Every year the event pushes man and machine to the absolute limit, but for the Race2Recovery team there was an added challenge with both of the team’s Wildcat cars, and their race truck, contain an amputee serviceman as part of the crew. Philip ‘Barney’ Gillespie made history in 2013 when he became the first amputee to complete the Dakar partnering Major Matt O’Hare. This year he returned alongside Team Director Ben Gott, while team founder Tony Harris was out to complete the event, after being excluded on stage 2 of the 2013 rally, and become the first amputee driver to complete the rally. Daniel ‘Baz’ Whittingham also made his competition debut in 2014, having been a part of the 2013 support crew.
“It’s been an incredible journey from the battlefield to the Dakar,” said Whittingham during the event, who lost his left leg after he was blown up as part of a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan in 2009. “I was told I’d never walk again but here I am taking part in the world’s toughest rally. Just being part of Race2Recovery has helped all of us in our rehabilitation and we hope that we’ve demonstrated to others that with teamwork and determination, you can overcome almost anything.”
“Eurosport has a proud history of broadcasting the Dakar Rally and the Race2Recovery team epitomises the spirit of this extraordinary event,” said Managing Director of British Eurosport, David Kerr. “We’re delighted to be working with Gaucho Productions again and to bring this story to life.”
