MADRID, 15 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish driver Laia Sanz has increased her own record this Sunday in the 45th edition of the Dakar Rally after having finished all the editions of the toughest rally in the world in which she has participated (13), including the one in 2023, after having crossed the finish line in 65th absolute position.
The one from Corbera de Llobregat remains the only Spanish rider who has managed to finish 11 consecutive participations on a motorcycle, plus two in cars, with 100% reliability. Together with her co-driver Maurizio Gerini, the Catalan showed the pace to be among the top 15, although mechanical and logistical problems conditioned the final result.
“It means a lot to me to have finished 13 out of 13, which is something incredible and it cost us a lot. I would like to thank the mechanics for their work every day and every night. Also my co-driver Maurizio Gerini, who has done very well It is true that I have a bittersweet taste, because finishing the Dakar is very good, but we know that we could have been quite ahead this year”, confessed the KH-7 pilot.
Laia Sanz crossed the finish line located in Dammam, on the shores of the Persian Gulf, 15 days after having started at the opposite end of Saudi Arabia, on the shores of the Red Sea. In these two weeks, she has traveled a total of 8,894 kilometers, 4,317 of them timed and divided into 14 stages, plus a prologue.
With 64 hours, 21 minutes and 54 accumulated seconds of crossing and a thousand and one vicissitudes, the Catalan finished in 65th overall position, 32nd in T1 cars and 14th in the classification of 4×2 traction prototypes. The result is not what was expected for the best female motorcycle driver in the history of the Dakar -9th overall in 2015-, who now aspired to enter the Top 15 in the car category in her second participation on four wheels.