It likely won’t hamper his performance in January, but Filip Grot will have to wait a bit before he can continue training for the Dakar Rally. While practicing for the race, he had what he called a “small crash on some slippery grass”. Although he initially “thought it was all good”, an MRI revealed he had suffered a grade 2 MCL injury and grade 1 ACL strain.

While neither are described as proper tears, they’re enough to keep him off his bike for three weeks.

“My Dakar preparation was going perfectly — until it wasn’t,” Grot remarked. “[…]

“Basically, that means I’m grounded for the next three weeks. Hopefully, after that, I’ll be able to kickstart my Dakar prep again with some training in the desert.”

2026 will be Grot’s Dakar debut after being accepted in July. His chances of approval were already relatively positive after he won the FIM Bajas World Cup’s Junior Trophy in 2024, along with running the W2RC’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and Rallye du Maroc that year. He finished 29th in Rally2 at the former and 31st at the latter.

In May, he joined BAS World for the South African Safari Rally. Despite a damaged oil cooler, Grot placed tenth in class and third for Junior Trophy riders.

Featured image credit: Edophoto / DPPI