“We could have a great Dakar”
RIDER FACTS
J-C.Y
- Argentina's Juan Cruz Yacopini has just finished a difficult season with 12th place in the Ultimate category, but he says it has been a valuable learning experience.
- The man from Mendoza, born into a motorsport family, competed in 2021 and 2022, navigated by his father Alejandro, who had been a driver in all nine of his previous Dakars.
- Juan Cruz began his racing career in 2018 in the CaNav Argentinean Rally Raid Championship and won the 2019 T1.1 category title. With his father, he won the 2020, 2021 and 2022 editions of the SARR in the T1 Car category.
- Dani Oliveras Carreras became his navigator in Morocco 2022, and together, they finished seventh in the car category in the following Dakar, his best result so far. 2023 was his best season in terms of results and speed. The podium in the W2RC's Ultimate category was the reward for his performance and consistency.
- The 2024 Morocco Rally was a confidence builder for the duo in a highly competitive event. Thanks to the improvements to the Hilux delivered by the Overdrive team, Juan Cruz and Dani will start 2025 in the best manner with renewed enthusiasm. In 2022, his passion for motorsport led him to compete in a few rounds of the Catalan Rally Championship, and at the end of that year, he received a call from Juan Cruz Yacopini to join him in the W2RC championship.
D-O.C
- The Catalan will participate in his 11th Dakar after five appearances on a motorbike, four in a car and one in an SSV, alongside Nani Roma, Gerard Farrès and Orly Terranova. With Farrès, he achieved his best result: runner-up in the SSV category in 2019.
- He got his start in 2003 in trial, a speciality in which he was successively Spanish Champion, European Champion and World Champion. In 2013, he ventured into rallying, participating in the Baja Aragón and other rounds of the Spanish Rally Championship.
- After competing in some events in Africa, such as the Merzouga Rally and the Panáfrica Rally in 2017 with positive results, in 2019, he finished runner-up in the Baja Portalegre with Nani Roma and eighth in Abu Dhabi alongside Cyril Despres.
- The duo had an excellent 2023, finishing third in the world championship in the Ultimate category with Overdrive's Toyota Hilux.
- However, the strong results were not reflected in the 2024 Dakar or the W2RC season, plagued by a few misfortunes. Eighth place on the last Rally of Morocco has given them high expectations for the Dakar.
AMBITION 2025
J-C.Y.: "Our 2024 Dakar was complicated. After 2023, when we had hardly any problems and finished on the W2RC World Championship podium, we had various mechanical problems. It wasn't the result we were looking for, but the fact that we could overcome all the setbacks to get to the finish left us satisfied.”
"Analysing the World Championship in Abu Dhabi, we experienced a seesaw of emotions in one day. We knew we had a good car and could have a strong race. It went well the first few days, and I made a mistake on a dune, and then I hit another car (Martin Prokop) and was disqualified, which I think was a bit of a harsh penalty from the FIA. But you must put your head down and carry on when you make a mistake. I started well in the Desafío Ruta 40 but had an accident and retired. Morocco was a good race, but we could have done better. We lacked some feeling in the car. The goal was to have a confidence-building race, which we did. But we know we can do better.".
"This Dakar will be extremely, extremely competitive. There will be major manufacturers with excellent drivers. Our Hilux will be slightly more developed, and we trust Toyota and Overdrive's work. I am happy to have completed another year in the world championship. It was a struggle to finish it regardless of the results. It has been a big learning season. We could have a great Dakar."
D-O.C.: 'We had high expectations for the 2024 Dakar, but nothing went our way: several mechanical issues dropped us down the classification. The good thing was that we overcame them and finished all the stages."
"The Dakar is the rally of the year, the toughest race we run. David (Castera) will prepare a harder Dakar for us, with difficult navigation. It's easier for me because I come from motorbikes. Besides, Juan Cruz and I are young and in good physical shape. The harder the stages, the better we perform. We train as much as we can physically and mentally to show that we are competitive. There were some firsts in Morocco, and Ford and Dacia surprised us all. The level is very high. We will have the same Toyota, but we have worked extensively on suspension settings and geometry. It is one of the most durable cars. It is the strongest car. The others are competitive, but we don't know if they will last. What result are we targeting? To beat our best result of seventh two years ago."
