“GZ and Ricky to the Dakar”

Christine Giampaoli Zonca doesn’t really know where her passion for car comes from. But it sure has taken her around the world. Born in India from an Italian family, raised in the Canary Islands, she completed a degree in motorsports technology at Birmingham City University. She built her skills and her reputation with a Toyota Corolla on home turf and is now ready to take on the world’s great rallye aboard a Can-Am Maverick in Saudi Arabia. There, she will be guided by Argentina’s Ricardo Torlaschi, who debuted in the Dakar in 2013, at a time when Giampaoli’s driving career was in its infancy. “Ricky” has come to race in the desert every year since and he has notably participated in battles at the highest level of the trucks standings with Federico Villagra. He’s now partnering with his long time friend “GZ”, just like they envisioned years ago.

G.Z.: “The world of motors is a bit complicated because everything is expensive. I started in the Canaries, where it was a bit cheaper. But still, I needed money. So I became a mechanics and from there I started building my car and step by step, all the way to the Dakar!
I’ve been racing for 10 years and participating in the Dakar has been a dream from the beginning. And things moved forward year after year, looking for partners… But there was always something missing. So now, with everything coming together this year, it feels super special. It was a dream. It became a goal. And here it is.
I’ve known Ricky for a long time and he has helped me a lot. My first race in the world championship was the Sonora Rally. I had never had such an experience with a co-pilot who can make the difference. It was life changing and I said: ‘I will always race with you!’ But obviously, he’s great at what he does, he has great contracts and it was hard for me to get him with the budgets I had.
And we’ve been talking about going to the Dakar for maybe seven years. He would write it in his notes, on the road book: ‘GZ and Ricky to the Dakar’. So when I called him this year, I was almost crying.”



R.T.: “Christine and I have been friends for a long time and her dream has always been to do the Dakar. I already had commitments but she told me I had to go with her, yes or yes, and here we are!
I think my job is to bring her calm, take things step by step, especially in the dunes, which will be the key for her.
First of all, I’m a mechanics, which is how I got into the Dakar, and then I became a navigator. So my first point is to make sure the vehicle finishes the race. It doesn’t matter how, it has to finish.
The main difference between the Saudi desert and South America are the long stretches with nobody, only camels. In Argentina, Chile and Peru, you’ll find some sort of town every 50 or 60 kilometres. In Saudi Arabia, it’s empty, you really feel the loneliness.
I’m super excited about the 48h Chrono. The harder it gets, the better I feel. If it’s hard for me, then it will be for everyone. So with a bit of calm and experience, you can go through things better than a rookie. So I love all these really hard things.”