“Tipped for the top”

Many people have high hopes for Brazilian Dakar ‘rookie’ Lucas Moraes, not least Red Bull, with whom he’s just signed a coveted sponsorship deal. After twice winning the Mitsubishi Cup, the biggest single-make competition in South America, Lucas went on to win the Brazilian national championship three times and South America’s toughest race, the Rally dos Sertoes twice, first in 2019 and then this year with Toyota Overdrive. With such a race tally, competing outside of South America was virtually inevitable. He put a toe in the water early this year with an impressive performance at the Baja Aragon, finishing third overall behind Nasser Al Attiyah and Yazeed Al-Rajhi! By his own admission, he lacks desert racing experience, a situation that was partially redressed by taking part in the recent Dubai Baja in the company of the hugely experienced German co-driver Timo Gottschalk, the man who co-drove Al Attiyah to his first Dakar victory in 2011… And despite never having raced in the desert before, the 32-year-old acquitted himself admirably, winning the first day and finishing second on the second day, behind Yazeed. Despite such impressive performances, Lucas has his feet on the ground and keeps his expectations reasonable.

“Obviously, like every Dakar rookie, my main goal is ‘just’ to finish. This has been my big dream ever since I started racing and I don’t want to blow it. If we could finish in the top 15 that would be amazing. I told Timo it would be nice if we could finish one stage in the top 10. He was a little bit skeptical, but since the Dubai Baja, he thinks that it is a not unreasonable ambition. Clearly, for me Timo is key piece of the Dakar jigsaw puzzle. He’s navigated for so many top drivers, Nasser, Przygonski, Yazeed, Sainz… He has the skill to navigate using cap heading, something we don’t have in South America, and can teach me so much about driving in the dunes.”