El Dakar It is a unique career… but there are many within the same one. The professionalslos amateurs… and the Original by Motulthe ancients Malle moto. They share the same journey but their situations could not be more different. Thanks to your common sponsor, Bridge GroupMARCA brought together two examples of this, such as Lorenzo Santolinoleader of the official Sherco team, which aspires to everything and Javi Vegasecond classified in the Original category in 2023… and who will no longer be able to aspire to victory by a organization dribble.
Javi Vega: without a number… and without options
“After the last Dakar they issued a regulation by which, If you won Original or made the top 30 overall, they won’t let you participatebecause you are no longer considered an amateur.” Vega was second in his class (he fought for victory until the last day) and finished, precisely, 30th overall. So facing 2024 and with paid registration, he found that he will not be able to aspire to win it. “I will be able to race in Original, but without appearing in the classification. It makes me angry invest a whole year in this so that now they tell you that you can’t try to win“, he laments, although that does not mean he is going to give up trying, at least, to repeat the absolute top 30a very worthy result for an amateur.
In 2023 Javi Vega (left) was second in Original… but he will no longer be able to aspire to victory.
To make matters worse, the organization has not kept his number always, the 99, which they promised him he could show off. “They have taken my number, there has been an internal failure. They have changed the organization of the Dakar and although I asked for my number in the summer, I will not have it.” It is a romantic detailbut it hurts more when everything you have worked for during the year is twisted.
“I can sell to the sponsors that I can win that category, but now I can’t sell anything. And, furthermore, it may be my last Dakar“Normal, if we take into account that the aspiration that motivated him is now impossible. Of course, multiple experiences have been left behind, from helping his partner Sara Garciato be the first Spanish to complete a Dakar in Original apmarry him on the arrival podium in 2020, going through a serious accident in the final stage of 2021 (with four broken ribs and a pneumothorax) that was about to cost him dearly… and now another bitter pill.
“Oysters, the truth is that it is a pothole because This is not what I expected. It’s a bad trick. But on this six-year path I would repeat everything, since the accident until everything that came after. And I’m going to try to enjoy this one as if it were the last,” she concludes.
Lorenzo Santolino: objective, top 5
The panorama is different for Lorenzo Santolinowho is not under pressure to raise a budget to be able to run, but is under pressure to improve your performance year after year. And after signing a great 6th in 2021He wants to one more stepsomething that he believes is within his reach: “A couple of years ago I was in the top 5 in a lot of the race so… why not finish it there too. And if we can be in the top 3 in some stageswell it would also be incredible at the brand level,” he acknowledges.
Lorenzo Santolino is ambitious for the 2024 Dakar: he wants a top 5 in motorcycles.
Although Sherco is an official manufacturer, we must not forget that reliability has played a trick on the Salamancan in the last two years, with two engine changes and penalty of time that this entails: “This year we have raced less, sacrificing doing the full World Championship for more hours of testing to make reliable the bike and I am happy with the result. In Morocco we were consistent in the top 5 and I was very comfortable with the bike.”
Good prospects for a Santolino to whom this year more than ever flag the Spanish army on motorcycles… along with the sensation of the year, Tosha Schareinaanother name for present and future: “It has surprised me”he acknowledges, “the change that has resulted in results and settlement from one day to the next. Because it has been getting on that bike and going up three more levels. I hope it continues in this line and can consolidate it in the Dakar.”
Would their roles change?
Interestingly, when we asked if they would change one day for the other…the answers are the opposite of what we expected. Santolino would sign up for a Dakar in Original “to live that adventure.” “I wouldn’t mind living it from that prism, although it has to be prepared and approached in a different way. It must be hard to combine piloting with maintenance of the motorcycle”. Precisely that, not having a team of mechanics to fix your motorcycle when you arrive is the great difficulty of the Original.
Santolino would try a Dakar in Original, but Vega… not as a professional.BRAND
Javi Vegawho has experienced this type of Dakar already on four occasions, however, he would not change for Santolino: “Me I wouldn’t feel like it nothing, really. It is another different Dakar, he carries the pressure of a team. In the end I go a little on my roll, on my adventure. I have already been on the national team in my sport [snowboard]I’ve already had that pressure to compete…” And once is enough.
