Winner of the 2020 Dakar, Ricky Brabec is ready to add another Rally win to his resume. “We are focused on reaching number one again, the confidence is there but preparation and staying healthy is key,” he explains. “It looks like the 2023 route has something in common with 2020, it can be more or less similar, going along the coast – which is the area that helped me a lot in 2020 with rocks and rough terrain.”
The 2023 Dakar Rally will start on Saturday, December 31st, with a Prologue that will decide the start order for stage number one. In Saudi Arabia for the fourth consecutive year, the race consists of 14 full stages, covering a distance of around 5,000 km, the longest of the competition since 2014. The itinerary includes 70% new special stages. The rally will kick off from the beaches of the Red Sea and conclude on the sands of the Arabian Gulf in Dammam on January 15. This means crossing first the north-western mountain regions before heading to the deep southeast for a three-day journey through an ocean of dunes in the famous Empty Quarter.
“As a Dakar winner, maybe the pressure is not so high to me because I know I’ve been there before,” concludes Brabec. “But, as I always say, Rally is always a complicated game with so many variables that until the very last mile anything is possible, so let’s stay focused and do our best.”
