The Dakar is a tough challenge for teams, drivers and machines. Isidre Esteve and the Repsol Toyota Rally Team have overcome their particular challenge this Sunday, in the first part of the 48-hour time trial. The driver from Lleida and his co-driver Txema Villalobos managed to complete 608 of the 967 total timed kilometers in the first run. The Repsol, MGS Seguros and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Spain driver is suffering from a bad cold, but was able to drive the Toyota Hilux T1+ number 229 at a good pace. He started 70th in the starting order, but moved up more than 40 positions and is now in 24th place provisionally in one of the so-called queen stages.
“I'm feeling a bit better, I'm recovering. We were able to reach the 600th kilometer of the 48-hour time trial, which is very good. I'm happy with the pace, I was able to ride more like I like. The car is going very well and the team is working very well”, says the Oliana rider.
The 48-hour time trial, a novelty of last year's edition, has been brought forward to the second day of the race, raising the level of demand for the large caravan of brave riders eager to overcome the toughest race in motorsport. As if that were not enough, the total timed distance was 967 kilometers (almost double that of 2024), to be covered over two days, this Sunday, day 5, and Monday, day 6, in a loop around Bisha.
In this first part, the teams set off in the morning and, at sunset, had to stop at one of the six bivouacs along the route to complete the special stage the following day. The Repsol Toyota Rally Team spent seven and a half hours to reach kilometer 608, the fourth bivouac on the route. The handful of cars that preceded Isidre Esteve barely reached the fifth, 18 kilometers ahead.
The special stage consisted of tracks of varied terrain and the first strands of dunes. Due to his delayed starting position, Isidre Esteve had to struggle with the dust at the beginning, but soon he was able to start giving real gas. “We started very far back and the first 80 kilometers we had a lot of dust. We couldn't run, but we started to overtake people and, around kilometer 100, we were able to ride well and fast. I repeat, I'm happy with the pace, I'm very confident that I feel good and I can ride as I like. I'm sure I'll be able to ride a lot more, with a higher and higher pace”, says the veteran of 20 editions of the Dakar.
This Monday, the Repsol Toyota Rally Team has another 359 timed kilometers ahead of it to complete the 48-hour time trial, back to Bisha. On a similar terrain, with tracks and broken dunes, Isidre Esteve hopes to continue to regain his competitive tone.
Automatic translation of the Spanish version
Source: Repsol Toyota Rally Team / Mediagé Comunicación
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