Astara, for the third time in a row, is getting ready to accelerate in the Dakar, the most important and media-covered rally-raid in motorsports. The 2024 edition, taking place from January 6th to 9th, is the 46th in the competition’s history, and the 5th organized entirely in Saudi Arabia. Behind the wheel of the two 02 Concept cars registered in the top car category (T1 Ultimate), rear-wheel drive buggies (T1.2) with Audi-origin 2.9-V6 2. biturbo engines powered by synthetic fuel – combustion with no CO2 emissions! -, there’s a Spanish driver, Laia Sanz, supported by Italian Maurizio Gerini, and a Uruguayan driver, Patricia (Pato) Pita, with Chilean Paolo Boggioni as navigator. Óscar Fuertes leads a team with over 30 members, including three Portuguese mechanics.
The presentation of the Astara Team for the 2024 Dakar took place in Madrid, Spain, at the headquarters of the company that operates in the mobility sector and has business in 19 countries, including Portugal, where it represents car manufacturers such as Kia, Mitsubishi, Aiways, Fuso, Maxus, or Isuzu – in 2022, it registered 10,803 new vehicles in our country, and the expectation for this year is growth.
Astara, with the 02 Concept from South African manufacturer Century, aims for only the “best possible result”, which means, at the start, completing the approximately 5000 km of the rally starting in Al Ula on January 5th and ending in Yanbu on the 19th of the same month, after completing a prologue and twelve timed stages, most of them in the dunes of the Arabian Peninsula desert. Especially since the favorites for victory are the usual suspects, also because they have much larger budgets and resources, such as Toyota, Audi, Prodrive, or Ford (the blue oval brand, with the Ranger T1+, makes its official debut in the Dakar in this edition…).
Nasser Al-Attyah, winner of the rally in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2022, and 2023, after the end of his contract with Toyota, presents himself behind the wheel of the Prodrive Hunter, and has as his teammate Sébastien Loeb, a Frenchman with nine WRC titles and 80 victories, but no Dakar triumph in seven participations, unlike the Qatari, who started the countdown to his 20th entry in this marathon!
The Astara project stands out both for its use of synthetic fuel, a way to differentiate itself positively among the competing cars, and for the fact that it bets on two women to drive the 02 Concept with around 300 kW (408 hp) and a maximum speed limited to 170 km/h (another novelty for 2024). Sanz, 65th in 2023 with the 01 Concept, is preparing for her 14th participation in the Dakar, the third consecutive one on four wheels, after eleven on two (in the Spanish driver’s career, no retirements and a 9th position in 2015!). Pita made her debut last year in a T3 (a category where SSVs stand out) and is competing for the first time in a car, and right in the main category of the competition.
“We can be fast… Maybe we would prefer a different type of route, faster and with fewer dunes, but we are prepared for what lies ahead,” said Sanz, Ekström’s partner in Carlos Sainz’s team competing in the Extreme E. “In 2022, I learned a lot. This competition tests your limits. I have experience in rallies, but I can’t compare what I’ve done in South America with what I have waiting for me in Saudi Arabia. I am fulfilling a dream and I aim to live it in the best way possible, stage by stage, with the goal of reaching the end and being well ranked,” said the Uruguayan driver, daughter and niece of rally drivers. Recently, in Morocco, the team conducted a general rehearsal for the Dakar, with the big marathon already on the horizon.
