Bike category teething problems with Dakar digital roadbooks cause problems for Red Bull KTM race leader and Jose Cornejo to ask: “Do you have to come from a first-world country to be heard?”

Distracting from the fight for victory at this year’s Dakar Rally (or maybe contributing to it) are the digital roadbooks now mandatory for all classes including the bikes.

In short, their introduction to the bike class is welcomed by some and not by others and the naysayers are being proved correct thanks to major problems in the rally this week.

So far the notable riders affected include Red Bull KTM’s race leader Daniel Sanders and Rally 2 leader Edgar Canet and controversially the Hero Motosports’ rider Jose Cornejo who has been moved to social media to make his feelings known – more on that below.

Digital, no manual

The digital roadbooks are a step forward for the riders and the organisers. As a reminder the roadbook is what the riders rely upon to navigate along with the two smaller screen above it on the navigation tower which are a CAP (compass) bearing indicator and a speedo.

As a fail-safe all GP class riders all have cameras on their bikes to record what’s going on and which can be used in evidence. You can see it mounted on the handlebars next to the clamps facing the roadbook (although it is quite possible it isn’t working too well due to vibrations and the fact SD cards can’t record for the length of the stages).

Enduro21 has already written about the known problems riders are facing while using them in a race situation. Chiefly that is how hard they can be to read at certain sun angles and in the dust.

Adding to that and perhaps not expected at such a high-profile race are glitches, freezing, cut-outs and failures of the new electronic system which are affecting the stage results.

The problem is when the digital roadbook does any of the above the rider has no ‘manual’ way of continuing to navigate like they used to have with the old paper scroll system.

99 problems and a glitch...

On the stage three these issues severely affected Daniel Sanders’ result and he was very public in vocalising the fact at the end of the stage. Same again on stage five where his navigation system failed again. As an example of how it affects the riders, Chucky had to turn it on and off multiple times to show he had “validated” the waypoint (otherwise the rider can be docked a time penalty).

He is also said to have had the speedo cutting in and out which has affected his judgement in mandatory speed zones and hence he was hit with speeding penalties on stage five (which KTM Rally team have protested and are expected to have a judgment on tomorrow, during the rest day).

The same thing happened to Lorenzo Santolino on stage four, also while he was leading. Both the KTM and the Sherco rider were awarded some time back for those earlier issues but we wonder how do you judge how much time a rider has lost because he or she hasn’t been able to navigate properly?

Nacho cracks

There’s a growing number of riders reporting problems. Some of them less high-profile than the race leader and not always getting their voices heard and time awarded back.

According to Hero Motorsports’ Jose Cornejo, it could be because they have the wrong passport: “Lots of riders have had problems with the electronic roadbook these days and to nobody you have given time back until today.”

This was following Jose’s own issues which are estimated to have cost him up to 10 minutes time: “Me personally, I had issues for two days in a row, riding in the dust of others to know where to go and following lines without knowing when the dangers were coming, getting lost for following others because my instruments were not working, and just today you guys decided to give time back to other riders affected.”

His scathing final question to the race direction was: “Why to some yes and to others no? We need to come from a first-world country to be heard?”

Enduro21 got a demo from the race director David Castera a couple of years ago and, like we say, it is clearly a better solution in much the same way all technology is.

But the problem is clearly the same as your phone, tablet or laptop at home. When it stops working you’re stuffed.

There were similar problems reported from the Morocco Rally at the end of 2024, the last major race before the Dakar used as a full-working race simulation for the bike competitors using the digi roadbooks.

Further explanation on how digital roadbooks work came from Daniel Sanders in this explainer video:

Photo Credit: Marcin Kin | KTM + Red Bull | Marcelo Maragni + Rally Zone + Hero MotoSports