The 45th Dakar Off-Road Rally, which will take place from 31 December to 15 January in Saudi Arabia, will initially feature 17 riders of Portuguese origin.
Rui Goncalves (Sherco), Joaquim Rodriguez Jr. (Hero), Antonio Maio (Yamaha), Mario Patrao (KTM) on bikes joins the Portuguese-German Sebastian Buhler (Hero), also on two wheels.
Navigators Paulo Fiusa (co-pilot of Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala, on Okhotnik) and José Marques (Lithuanian Gintas Petrus, on Chevrolet) participate in the cars.
This time the majority of the national fleet consists of SSV passenger cars with Hélder Rodríguez / Gonçalo Reis (BRP Can-Am), João Ferreira / Filipe Palmeiro (Yamaha) in addition to Ricardo. Sanz (Yamaha) and Paulo Oliveira (Mozambique licensed driver) will have Spaniard Miguel Alberti (Can-Am Maverick) as co-pilot.
Pedro Bianchi Prata will co-drive Brazil’s Bruno Conti de Oliveira (BRP Can-Am), while Spain-licensed Fausto Mota will storm Brazil’s Cristiano Batista (BRP Can-Am).
In terms of trucks, José Martins is registered as a Team Boucou Iveco driver, along with French co-driver Jeremy Gimbre and French mechanic Eric Simonin.
Still on trucks, Armando Loureiro will be MAN’s co-pilot alongside French driver Sebastien Fargeas and French mechanic Luc Fertin.
The 2023 edition marks Elder Rodriguez’s return to racing, having already finished twice on the motorcycle podium (he was third in 2011 and 2012), finishing the race 11 times, seven of them in the top five.
After helping Rubén Faria drive the winning Honda team in 2020 and 2021 in recent years, he is now back in the new passenger car category.
Still in SSV, a milestone for former national champion Ricardo Mas and current Portuguese and European off-road champion João Ferreira.
On motorcycles Ruy Gonçalves of Tras os Montes and Minho Joaquim Rodriguez Jr. to become candidates for the first 15 places in the classification.
The 45th Dakar Off-Road Rally Marathon will start on December 31 at the Marine Camp and end on January 15 in Dammam.
A total of 455 vehicles and 820 participants were registered.
