The women ’ s teams that prevail at national level will win a trip to the international female qualifying round , where a total of six women ’ s teams will be selected for the much-coveted seats on the plane to Namibia , along with the 16 men ’ s teams .
The qualifying rounds for the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2024 are confirmed for the following countries and regions :
Brazil China France India Latin America Chile Arab Emirates Bahrain Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Pakistan Qatar Saudi Arabia
UK
Benelux Germany Italy Japan Mexico Middle East Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Columbia Panama Paraguay Peru South Africa South Korea USA
For those who do not see their home country on the list of national or regional qualifying rounds , there is no reason to despair : As part of the BMW Motorrad Days taking place in Berlin from July 7 to 9 , 2023 , BMW Motorrad is offering international qualifying for the first time from July 6 to 8 , 2023 to give even more enthusiastic enduro riders a chance to participate in the Int . GS Trophy 2024 in the so-called International Team . A link to the sign-up page will be available on gstrophy . com in March 2023 .
Rugged cliffs , deep valleys , raging rivers and a gorgeous Mediterranean coastline provided the challenging terrain for the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy from 4 to 10 September 2022 in Albania , making full demands of the 57 participants in total .
But Namibia will present GS riders with completely different conditions , as Dr Ralf Rodepeter , Head of Brand Management BMW Motorrad , explains : “ After Tunisia , South Africa , Patagonia , Canada , Thailand , Mongolia , New Zealand and most recently Albania , BMW Motorrad was again on the look-out for perfect GS terrain – and found it in the beautiful country of Namibia . Countless off-road kilometres with challenging route profiles passing through marvellous landscapes with fascinating flora and fauna once again ensure an exciting GS Trophy .” Namibia is located on the Atlantic coast , bordering South Africa to the south and south-east , Botswana to the
east and Angola to the north . Since 1990 the state has been a semi-presidential republic and has stable political conditions . In the very sparsely populated country , the inland highlands with an average altitude of 1,700 metres stretch out between the two deserts of the Kalahari in the east and the Namib in the west – the latter is considered the oldest desert in the world . In the area of the capital Windhoek , which has a population of some 300,000 , the highlands actually rise to over than 2,000 metres .
Namibia ’ s climate is subtropical continental and predominantly hot and dry . There are significant differences between the individual regions of the country , however . In both desert regions of the Namib and the Kalahari , rainfall is typically rare , while on the Atlantic coast a powerful warm wind blows all year round . In the summer months of December and January temperatures can rise to 30 degrees Celsius , and even in the winter months of July and August , the thermometer climbs to 25 degrees . In winter , frost and sometimes even snowfall can be expected in the inland highlands .
Namibia has a number of national parks , game parks and nature reserves , some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites , including Sossusvlei National Park with its orange sand that is more than five million years old . Other national parks include the Skeleton Coast , the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the Etosha National Park . In addition , the region between the Namib Desert and the Atlantic Ocean is one of the areas with the best climatic conditions for astronomical observations worldwide . Here , keen astronomers dedicate their attention to the unique night sky and stargazing in specially built “ astrocamps ”.
Cars drive on the left-hand side of the road in Namibia , and the well-developed Namibian road network covers a total of some 45,000 km . However , only the trunk roads , some main roads and the main inner-city roads are asphalted , while about 80 per cent of the road network is made up of dirt tracks with a gravel base – ideal terrain for the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2024 .
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