MADRID, 1 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish driver Isidre Esteve (Repsol Toyota Rally Team) is already in “Dakar mode” after leaving for the 46th edition that starts on January 5, a Dakar that seems “demanding”, as the most famous rally has to be. of the world.
“These last few days one is thinking more about the race than about the Christmas, New Year's Eve or Three Kings holidays. We are already in Dakar mode,” said Esteve in statements provided by his team, just before embarking in the middle of New Year's Eve heading to Saudi Arabia.
For Esteve it will be his 19th participation, the ninth on four wheels. “Personally, I really like how this edition is presented. The Dakar has to be a difficult, complicated, demanding and long race. This year is perhaps the most radical route that has been presented in recent editions. It is going to be difficult for everyone,” commented the Oliana pilot.
A difficult Dakar is precisely what the Repsol Toyota Rally Team is looking for, which will use Repsol's renewable fuel in the number 235 Toyota Hilux T1+, now produced 70% from organic waste. “I like it because you can plan the race thinking about the whole. For us it is not important to make partial results; for us it is important where we are at the end of the race. And in a Dakar like this year I think that, more than ever, How we manage the overall race itself is going to be important,” he explained.
“The first week is going to be very decisive. Almost everything that is most complicated, due to the unknown, is concentrated in the first week. Therefore, it is going to be important to reach the rest day without losing the options for that result we are looking for, and from there we will see how we face the second week,” added Esteve, who aspires to enter the Top 20 of the overall car category for the first time.