"I'm aiming for the Top 5, and we can achieve it"
Crew facts
- Lorenzo Santolino has been Sherco's trump card in recent Dakars thanks to his tremendous consistency, talent, and ability to improve. And he will continue to be so in 2026, in his 8th participation. In 2021, he finished 6th, his best position to date; in 2022, 11th; and in 2023, back in the Top 10 (9th). In 2024, he had to withdraw from the rally on stage 2 due to a mechanical problem while chasing the top 5. A year later, when he was in the top 10 and had achieved one of his best results —his first victory in the Dakar on stage 3 —he lost any chance of finishing in the top 10 due to mechanical problems. Then, on stage 10, a crack in the fuel tank left him without petrol 1 kilometre from the finish line, in the middle of the dunes. He showed his resilience in pushing the bike for several hours to the finish line.
- His most emotional edition was in 2021. There, after a challenging year due to the health crisis and the death of his mother from illness, the Guijuelo rider dedicated his feat of finishing the rally for the first time with a brilliant sixth place and the top Spanish rider to his mother. He achieved this in an edition in which he auctioned his racing gear to benefit Pyfano, a Salamanca-based charity that works with cancer-stricken children.
- He has risen to the elite level thanks to the sacrifice of a humble, hard-working family. His father is a maintenance professional at a reservoir, and his mother worked as a cleaner at a school. Both had to tighten their belts to pursue their son's dreams, first travelling all over Spain with a car, trailer and tent, and then with a van so that he could compete in motocross at the national level, with only one motorbike and less equipment and spare parts than his rivals.
- Lorenzo wanted to make the move to international competition, and did so thanks to the national enduro team. He left motocross and changed disciplines to take advantage of that opportunity, later switching again when he moved to rally raid with Sherco, with whom he reached the Dakar in 2019. 2026 marks his eighth consecutive Dakar.
Ambition
L.S.: " Taking my first Dakar stage victory last year was fantastic. I had been competing in the rally for many years and had never considered achieving it, because I focused more on the overall classification. But in the 2025 Dakar, there were two or three stages that I knew I could do well in, so I tried to push hard on those days. On stage 3, I saw that I was doing well at the refuelling stop, in the lead, so I accelerated a lot in the second half of the day and won. The feeling was incredible —a sense of reward, relief, and joy — for everyone who believes in me, my team, and my family. It was really wonderful. For me, that stage and the day I finished my first Dakar, where I also finished 6th overall, are the two most special Dakar days.
"My goal for the 2026 Dakar is the same. We have a real chance of finishing in the top five overall. All riders have problems during the race, but if I can have a cleaner Dakar, I think I can finish in the top five. Last year, I felt good and had a good pace. But on stage 8, when I was in the top 10 overall, I had an injector problem. The bike stopped, and I lost over an hour repairing it. I set myself the goal of doing well in the stages to make up ground in the general classification and fight for a top-10 finish. But on stage 10, which was full of dunes, I had a small crack in the tank from a fall the day before, and I ran out of fuel 1 kilometre from the finish line. It was a challenging moment. I had to push the bike through the dunes, losing two hours, and after the stage, I was dehydrated and exhausted."
"My goal for the 2026 Dakar is the same. We have a real chance of finishing in the top five overall. All riders have problems during the race, but if I can have a cleaner Dakar, I think I can finish in the top five. Last year, I felt good and had a good pace. But on stage 8, when I was in the top 10 overall, I had an injector problem. The bike stopped, and I lost over an hour repairing it. I set myself the goal of doing well in the stages to make up ground in the general classification and fight for a top-10 finish. But on stage 10, which was full of dunes, I had a small crack in the tank from a fall the day before, and I ran out of fuel 1 kilometre from the finish line. It was a challenging moment. I had to push the bike through the dunes, losing two hours, and after the stage, I was dehydrated and exhausted."
