MADRID, 1 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish rally driver Cristina Gutiérrez is clear that she would love to say goodbye to the T3 category of the Dakar Rally “with a victory”, although the “realistic objective” is the 'top 3', taking into account that there is no other race like it “in toughness profile”, at the same time that he celebrated his signing for Dacia in 2025, an “exciting opportunity” that did not give him “dizziness”.
“It's my fourth year in T3. Thinking about a podium doesn't seem like a dream to me either, it seems like something realistic. Furthermore, I would love to say goodbye to the last year of T3 with a victory, although the Dakar has to treat you well to get that result, but I am going to fight to be there,” remarked the woman from Burgos in an interview with Europa Press.
The 32-year-old driver faces her eighth Dakar, the last year in the T3 category, with “one of the best cars today.” “I'm very excited to do big things,” she confessed, before evaluating the change from Red Bull's Can-Am to the “more tubular” Taurus weeks before its premiere in Saudi Arabia on January 5.
“I fancy the change because lately, especially in this last year when we have shared the World Championship between the Taurus and the Can-Am, I have seen that the car performs super well and is super competitive. We will see what kind of Dakar we have. found and if it suits the car,” Gutiérrez assessed.
“YOU MUST HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR THE DAKAR”
And the experience of the woman from Burgos – the first Spanish woman to finish the Dakar Rally in cars and to win a stage of the event – will be key to facing a demanding race. “2018 was the worst in the universe for me, it was very hard,” she recalled. “You have to have a lot of respect for the Dakar, because even if it seems like it's going to go well for you, it can give you whiplash,” she said before analyzing the 2024 route.
“I expect a very complicated first week of navigation, a stage profile with a lot of dunes and those marathon stages, it will be quite a turning point. And the second week, the profile similar to what we did the first week of last year, which was more rocks, more destroying the car and so on, and for it being the last week, the cars will already be quite damaged. It's going to be hard,” the driver acknowledged.
For the Spaniard “there is no race equal to the Dakar in terms of toughness”, since in other endurance races “everything is more measured”. “In the Dakar you don't know what you have in every meter you pass. It is the race in which external factors most influence your result, that is why you can have one of the hardest experiences and that is what makes it so engaging, because “It puts you in a situation that your real life never does. You continuously improve yourself,” he said.
“THOSE WHO ASK FOR AN AFRICAN DAKAR IS OUT OF NOSTALGIA, WE MUST MOVE FORWARD”
For this reason, Gutiérrez sees the move of the rally to Saudi Arabia from 2020 as positive, “because things are changing” and “new horizons” must be opened. “All this pressure for it to be like the African Dakar comes from people who have done those first races and who have that nostalgia, because it is obviously the origin of the Dakar,” he analyzed.
“But we have to be aware that, obviously, it will never be the same. Africa was wonderful, probably very special because of the origin, the energy that is still there is brutal. But we also have to move forward a little and open new horizons. Saudi Arabia also gives us incredible landscapes. Nostalgia is good to have as a memory, but we should make a point of it,” he added.
And another of the big changes in the career is the increase in female presence. “When I started in the Dakar there were no women, and the few that there were felt very distant, almost in black and white,” said Gutiérrez ironically, who does not know if she is “a reference.” “But I have met many girls, even boys, who can see themselves reflected. You have to have enthusiasm and desire and go for it,” he commented.
“Years ago it was said 'this year nine women are coming' and it was news, and now that has changed, it is no longer news, you see women pilots, co-pilots, engineers, mechanics. It is about giving opportunities without looking at whether you are a woman or a man As long as we have those doors open, women will continue to enter. I don't know if it will reach 50-50, because it is complicated, but the important thing is that any woman or man who wants to enter the discipline does not feel intimidated,” he said about equality. of opportunities.
After her last year in the T3 category in this edition, Gutiérrez will have the opportunity to compete for Dacia, the official team, becoming the second woman in the history of the Dakar to face a challenge of this magnitude. “In March of last year they contacted me and told me a little about the project and the truth is that it has all been very exciting, seeing myself there between two stars,” he said about racing alongside Sébastien Loeb and Nasser Al-Attiyah, current champion in cars.
“It's something incredible and it's appreciated and of course I want to show them that they've made a good bet. This year is the eighth Dakar and if you don't take these opportunities now, you might not get them again. It didn't make me dizzy or anything. It's one of the best moments of my life,” admitted the woman from Burgos, who was fourth in the last edition in this lightweight category.
Finally, the Spaniard tried to guess what the sustainable future of the Dakar will be, recognizing that Audi “took a risk” by competing with an electric car, something that was “impossible 5 years ago.” “But now with biofuels there are more realistic alternatives. The important thing is to change things. Although Audi has seen little support. Dacia will also use biofuels, it is a good time to invest there. But there is time, until 2035,” he concluded. the limit that the organization set to become a sustainable career.