Joan Lascorz has decided to postpone his participation in the Dakar Rally, ruling out the possibility of competing in the 2023 edition, which starts on December 31 in Saudi Arabia.

Having made his tough but history-breaking debut in the rally last year, the experience highlighted the need for greater human and technical resources before Lascorz could again face the toughest rally-raid in the world.
 
Thus, the Spaniard’s training program for 2023 will last until January 2024 in order to return stronger and with the clear objective of improving the result of his first Dakar. His physical preparation will also be greater, as well as the resources poured into the project.
 
As the first tetraplegic rider to complete the Dakar, Lascorz managed to finish the 2022 rally in ninth position in the Side-by-Side category (SSV T4) with the Buggy Masters Team - a project financed by several sponsors, friends as well as a crowdfunding campaign.

“There was the possibility of participating in 2023 with material that, in all likelihood, would not allow me to win stages,” Lascorz said on his decision to delay. “Last year I proved that I could face and finish a Dakar but, to be competitive, we need more resources, technical and physical.

We went off on an adventure, now we know that we need time to achieve competitive material that would allow us to be in the front positions. Physically, I can also improve a lot compared with 2022 thanks to the medical information we collected.

“But, above all, what I think we need is a project where we feel that we can compete against the best and, for that, we need more structure, more training and more testing. The goal is to be competitive before going to the Dakar and go for it all.”