The driver from Messina Antonio Ricciari he will be the only Sicilian competitor competing this year at the Dakar FIA CrossCountry race 2025, the international race most loved by all rally raid riders in the world which will take place starting tomorrow January 3rd until the 17th from Bisha to Shubaytah in Saudi Arabia.
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 in 2023 he did even better by winning the third place overall among all the Italians competing in the Dakar, also coming third in the H 2 regularity category.
In this, his third participation in the Dakar, the driver from Messina brought his son Riccardo Ricciari with him for assistancealso a rally raid enthusiast who decided to follow his father in this new great adventure. Ricciari’s co-driver will instead be the Roman Simona Morosi, who will join him in the Dakar as early as 2023.
On his car at one Mitsubishi Pajero v20 3200cc for the first time Ricciari made an impression the Triskelion, symbol of his land to represent Sicily in one of the most fascinating car races in world sport.
738 will be his race number with which from tomorrow it will compete with very strong competitors from all over the world from the largest car manufacturers on board super competitive cars. Ricciari confirmed his presence at the Italian/Spanish event Rteam RalliArt and TH-Truckswhich will put 6 or 7 trucks at the start of the Dakar, one of the most anticipated and fascinating categories of the 2025 edition. Yesterday and today in Bisha important tests were carried out on the cars of the race and the very strict technical and safety checks were completed .
About There will be 10,000 kilometers to travel in 12 special tests including the very insidious stage Marathon which involves a night without assistance and without bivouac, with extremely difficult conditions. Finally, the passage through the desert ofEmpty Quarterthe largest in the world where its very fine sands are shaped by the wind to form dunes several tens of meters high. There will also be electric, 2- and 4-wheel vehicles and hydrogen trucks in the race.
Despite the absence of the quad, the Dakar 2025 registers the record number of participating pilots was 807 split on almost 500 vehicles between motorcycles, cars, challengers, SSVs, M1000s, Classics and trucks. 76 cars and 19 trucks at the starting line of the Dakar Classic category where the Sicilian Antonio Ricciari will be involved.
On television, the Dakar 2025 can be followed on Eurosport Italia (Eurosport 2) Sky Sport and discovery+ which will broadcast highlights and summaries of the races and also on the Facebook and YouTube pages of the Dakar Rally.