Messina native Antonio Ricciari is preparing for his third Dakar by racing at the 2024 Africa Classics Rally

John

By John

The Messina driver Antonio Ricciari, the first Sicilian competitor in the history of the Dakar to participate in the Classic category in 2022, is ready for the big challenge. The goal of his third appearance in the most important rally raid race in the world is to aim for the podium.

After a year of absence and his return to Rteam RalliArt, one of the most important teams in Italy with great placings in the Dakar, the rally raid driver from Messina Antonio Ricciari announces his participation in the Dakar 2025 which will take place from 3 to 17 January from Bisha to Shubaytah in Saudi Arabia.

In just two editions, Ricciari placed 35th in the specialty in 2022resulting in first place among the Italian crews competing in the Classic; in 2023 he did even better, conquering third place overall among all the Italians competing in the Dakar and also arriving third in the H 2 regularity category.

And all this in a very tricky international race, in the presence of fearsome opponents, famous cars with great history and car manufacturers that make large investments.

Before the Dakar 2025, from 12 to 18 September Antonio Ricciari will race in the 2nd edition of the Rally Classics Africa 2024, the regularity and navigation rally-raid over 5 stages in which 41 teams and big names in world off-road will participate.; a “preparatory” race in view of an increasingly challenging Dakar, which, as David Castera, the director of the most grueling and beloved rally in the world, has already anticipated, will be absolutely “among the toughest in the history of the Dakar”.

“Every time I feel like I’ve given it my all, but then the call of the race, the allure of adventure, is too strong to resist.” Antonio Ricciari declares. “When I took part in the Dakar for the first time, they told me that you will want to come back and I almost didn’t believe it; instead, now I’m here, ready and excited for this new challenge. I make a lot of sacrifices to be there, a lot of physical preparation, I participate in the set-up of the car, I study the opponents, with the team we develop strategies and much more. All this doesn’t start now with racing, this inside me is a journey that has lasted 30 years, or even more, since I started racing, a slow, conscious and unstoppable maturation.”

Upon his return from the Rally Classics Africa 2024, Antonio Ricciari will meet the press, partners and institutions on Thursday 26 September at 7pm in the Sala Privè del Toronero in Messina (via G. La Farina,185) and will present all the details of his new participation in the Dakar 2025.

Co-pilot with him in Morocco and January in Saudi Arabia will be the expert Simona Morosialready with Ricciari in the 2023 edition of the Dakar. Their car will be a Mitsubishi Pajero v20 3200cc, an off-road vehicle that RTeam technicians are making even more performing but always in compliance with the very strict safety requirements requested by the international direction of the race.

This is the same car with which Ricciari and Morosi participated in the 2023 Dakar, covering over 9,000 kilometers and capable of tackling sand dunes and rocky terrain always with maximum control.