“We didn’t buy the truck, we pretty much built everything”
CREW FACTS
P.C.
- Paolo Calabria is an entrepreneur when it comes to his business, at the helm of CMC Industries, and his hobbies, especially the Dakar. He has dedicated countless hours to the most diverse projects in the desert.
- Calabria is also a most loyal friend, used to sharing his Dakar adventures with a crew of seasoned adventurers. Loris Calubini and Giuseppe Fortuna were essential to bringing the “PanDakar” home before they took on this new challenge with Calabria.
- In 2025, the Italian trio faces the Arabian desert aboard a truck they know inside out… They built it themselves, they brought it to the finish in 2020 and refined it for a new adventure.
L.C.
- Loris Calubini never fails to answer the call of the desert, may it be to participate in exhilarating rally-raids -and especially the Dakar- or putting his experience at the service of tourists he takes along for off road adventures in the Sahara and Patagonia.
- A driver by nature, Calubini also became a specialised mechanic after sharing some unique adventures with Paolo Calabria, Giuseppe Fortuna and their friends, most notably supporting the “PanDakar” en route to Buenos Aires in 2017.
- Calubini, Calabria and Fortuna have also been working tirelessly to build their own truck and take it through the Arabian desert. They succeeded in 2020 and are ready for more.
G.F.
- Giuseppe Fortuna is an essential part of the Italian crew, led by the likes of Giulio Verzeletti and Paolo Calabria, that has developed iconic projects such as the “PanDakar” to share unique experiences in the world’s most iconic rally-raid.
- After he supported the several -and eventually successful- attempts to bring the Fiat Panda through Patagonia, Fortuna built with Paolo Calabria and Loris Calubini their own truck to race through the Arabian desert.
- The Italian trio succeeded in 2020, before they had to abandon in 2021… With a new course and a reshuffled vehicle, Fortuna is hopeful for 2025.
2025 AMBITIONS
P.C.: “The project is mainly to have a lot of fun and to be able to finish the race with this truck that we built entirely in our workshop. We didn’t buy the truck, we pretty much built everything, from the chassis. It’s really a prototype.
We’ve been working on it for three years, Saturdays and Sundays included. We also got help from many friends and sponsors. Meritor gifted us the axles, ZF provided us with a special gearbox… We now want to prove it’s a good truck.
Reliability comes above everything. The Dakar is the toughest race in the world and the hardest thing for crews like us is we have to work on the truck ourselves in the evening, repair everything that we broke during the day, because we don’t have assistance.”
L.C.: “This is not my first participation, I know exactly what I’m going to do, so I’ve prepared as best as I can to be ready but I don’t have this anxiety. I’m excited to share this experience again, in such a special environment, with friends, even if it’s not the first one. Every Dakar is a different story and what everyone hopes for is to finish it.
I love the desert. I don’t only go there for competitions like the Dakar, I also organise tours during the year. I feel really good in the desert, it’s an environment I love.”
G.F.: “David [Castera] has promised a new version of Dakar, a bit adapted to the private drivers like us, because it has become more and more difficult with the years. We’re busy with our jobs and in the week-end we work on that truck that we want to take to the finish. It’s a new adventure to share, like when we did the PanDakar. The Dakar will forever be the Dakar, a beautiful event, with beautiful people, and that will forever remain in our hearts and our minds.”
