Isidre Esteve presents the “project he has always dreamed of” for the 2023 Dakar

It’s February 2022. Only a few weeks have passed since then Isidre Esteve came home after completing the 17th edition of the dakar rally, the seventh by car after 10 on a motorcycle. And instead of taking the necessary time for rest, he is already at work, working for Dakar of 2023. Such is this sport. When one edition ends, the next begins. and so it is Isidre Esteve (May 15, 1972, La Seu d’Urgell), a born fighter who strives for maximum performance in all his projects and always seeks to take small steps forward, year after year, regardless of obstacles that he is facing. Those who know Isidre know that among all his qualities is persistence and perseverance. When he gets something in his head, it’s hard to get it out. He will do it with all his might and he will not stop until he does it. In the first days of February, isidre He is already very clear about how he should go to the Dakar in 2023 and he chats with MD hands-free, from his car, as he goes to Madrid to convince a large part of his sponsors. “We have to fight to have T1+. We have a very solid team, we are doing things very well, we are working hard and we need to find the formula to be in a T1+ in Dakar 2023. We will do our best to be in a T1+. Now we have to see how we can do it, but that’s my main goal now.” That same speech will defend him in his next meetings. A few months later, this November 21, Isidre Esteve presented with his co-pilot Natxo Villalobos your project for Dakar 2023. And guess what… yes, with a Toyota Hilux T1+.

“We are presenting the project of our life, the one we have always dreamed of. We are talking about it, we want the day to come when we can go to Dakar with a car with good performance that will allow us to fight a little more one-on-one with our rivals”. This is not for less. Since his accident in 2007, which forced him to abandon motorcycles and completely change his life, when he returned to racing in a car, his injury and his wheelchair have never slowed down him. At that time, his dream was to follow a long road towards, one day, reaching the point of not only going to Dakar, but doing it in a competitive project. And that day has come.

Isidre Esteve’s insistence has a foundation. At last year’s Dakar, the T1+ debuted, a new category of cars that matches the performance between the two-wheel drive vehicles (buggies) of previous years, with larger wheels and longer suspension travel, and 4x4s. So, the top cars of the Dakar will be included in this new category, the first class. And for the second time there were T1s, like the arrival of Isidre Esteve in Dakar 2022. The T1+ competed with bigger tires and longer suspension travel. So, on a rocky path, while Isidre very easily punctured his tires several times, the T1+ went through at full speed without punctures, for example. In all fields they are superior. There’s no point in returning to the toughest race in the world without a car of that caliber. So, the Repsol Rally Team and its sponsors made a big effort to give Esteve the car he needed. Now yes, Isidre will leave for the Dakar 2023 knowing that he will drive a car with the highest guarantee, a T1+ that will allow him to enjoy the test more while progressing in the classification thanks to greater reliability and performance this.

Of course, like Isidre, many drivers have made that step to T1+ (about 40) or who will go to the Dakar with a 2-wheel drive buggy, something that will make a great competition for the driver from Oliana . .. Iside is one of 50 competitive drivers. But with a good weapon, his hands and Txema Villalobos’ sailing experience, Isidre faced the challenge with enthusiasm. Because of the many competitors who will have a T1+, he doesn’t want to talk about a certain result, but he knows that in the difficult dune and navigation stages he will be able to make a difference and fight to enter the top. 20 of the day. His strategy is clear: be consistent, be reliable, manage the race well and avoid holes as much as possible.

In this car, Isidre did nothing but have fun and shine. It comes from being 10th in the Andalucía Rally (4th in its category), but more importantly, it comes from debuting this car in the test that serves as the best Dakarian test, the Morocco Rally, where Isidre achieved her best result in a World Cup event. , 7th full.

“It’s an amazing car. It’s really different. It’s 24 cm wider, with bigger wheels, all the weight is centered in the car and the engine goes almost inside the cabin, it allows us to face the most complex areas of the race at a speed that we still don’t have before. The car is better than last year. He has gained muscle. This allows us to go at a different speed. We have already seen it in Morocco and Andalusia and I hope that in Dakar we will see it again”, he pointed out this Monday in Barcelona.

with renewable fuel

In addition to the great person and exemplary value of Isire Esteve’s works, we must add the work for the future that he is carrying out by testing the advanced biofuels of Repsol in the most difficult Rally in the world, to be evaluated by the Spanish company its performance towards a future with no carbon footprint in mobility. Last year he already tested it in Morocco and in Dakar, a 50% biofuel. This year, it will be 75% renewable. Repsol makes 6,000 liters of this fuel available to Isidre, which should be key so that mobility does not leave a mark on the planet in the future.