Not even the injury stopped the tenacity of the rally raid driver from Messina Antonio Ricciariat the Dakar 2025 which ended yesterday but this time with a few more thrills. Car breakdowns, points lost due to navigation problems, but also continuous chases for the positions that count in the standings characterized his race this year, tackled as in previous years on a Mitsubishi Pajero v20 3200cc with co-driver Simona Morosi and for the first time with his son Riccardo Ricciari in the assistance staff.
Ricciari raced in his car with the symbol of Sicily to represent and not only ideally the island in the most famous rally raid race in the world. Beaming at the finish line, the driver from Messina hugged his son Riccardo for a long time and thanked his staff for the precious and timely assistance provided to him during the race. With the medal finally on his chest he declared: “I really wanted to achieve a prestigious result, it was what I strongly wanted within me. – he said- It hasn’t been easy racing this year, it hasn’t been easy at all to get here. Adjustments, difficulties, problems have characterized my race from the beginning. I didn’t get excited when I was in fourth place overall, I didn’t get discouraged when I lost positions. Little by little we moved up the rankings with only one goal in mind: the podium. And today, being third among the Italians and eighth out of 80 competitors in the Classic is a result that I am really satisfied and proud of.
Antonio Ricciari participated in the Dakar Classicone of the most anticipated specialties of the 2025 edition of the Dakar FIA CrossCountry 2025 race, the most important international race for all rally raid racers in the world which took place from 3 to 17 January in Saudi Arabia from Bisha to Shubaytah. In 2022 Ricciari was the first Sicilian driver in the history of the Dakar to compete in the Classic category, taking first place among the Italian crews competing in the Classic and 35th overall, in 2023 he did even better, taking third place among all the Italians competing in the Dakar, also finishing third in the H2 regularity category and 12th overall. Also highly celebrated by its automotive team was the Italian-Spanish Rteam RalliArt and TH-Trucks, among the most important in Italy and “veteran” of the Dakar, also present in this edition with various vehicles competing.