“If we just focus on finishing the result will take care of itself”
Crew facts
RC
- Rui Carneiro won the Road to Dakar category on the inaugural 2020 Andalucia Rally, leaving him with very little time to take get ready for his ‘free’ 2021 Dakar entry.
- His mother was thrilled for him, while his father cautioned him that the entry fee was just the tip of the financial iceberg. Of course, dads always know best!
- The very first day of that 2021 Dakar turned out to be a bit of a disaster for Rui and his equally rookie co-driver Filipe Serra, with the Portuguese duo finishing a long way down the rankings after a succession of punctures. That put paid to any hopes of a decent overall result but they regrouped to get a couple of Top 10 finishes and one Top 5 in the T3 class.
- The urge to go back was strong but he’s a busy man. Working for the family business, principally involved in textiles and healthcare, plus being married with a 6 years old daughter means he’s time poor.
- In 2025 however he managed to find the time to return, with an ‘on paper’ winning formula: a professional co-driver and a top-level car. Except it didn’t quite go according to plan…
- So exhausted, mentally and physically, was Rui by his 2025 Dakar that he’d planned to give the 2026 edition a miss. But then he was contacted by the guys at French outfit MMP, with whom he’d won his Road to Dakar trophy, with an offer he couldn’t refuse…
F.M.
- Fausto Mota secured 2nd place in the 2024 W2RC codriver Championship in SSV, with key results including a 1st place in SSV at the Desafio Ruta 40 and Rally-Raid Portugal.
- At the 2024 Dakar, he finished 7th in SSV, claiming a stage win alongside Cristiano Batista.
- Unlike Rui, Fausto’s 2025 Dakar also went pretty well; with the Portuguese co-driver finishing 5th alongside his Italian crew member Enrico Gaspari.
- The rest of the season continued in a similar vein, with Fausto going on to take second place in the W2RC for the second year in succession.
Ambition
R.C.: “My 2025 Dakar was very challenging. From the 1st stage to the 8th stage, when we were finally forced to abandon, everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I lost front wheel drive, I lost rear wheel drive, we got so many punctures we ran out of wheels, I rebuilt a differential by the side of the track. I even took a throttle body apart during the special! At one point my co-driver asked ‘why don’t you just give up?’ but I wanted to finish. When I came back from Saudi Arabia I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone. Then my dad said to me, ‘you have to go back at least once so as not to finish on such a down’ and then the boss of MMP rang me and offered me a car and I said, ‘OK let’s go’. So, for 2026 my only goal is just to finish. To have no problems with the car, not to get lost, not to make any mistakes. And if we manage all that the result will take care of itself.”
F.M.
“I’ve known Rui for many years as we live very close together here in Portugal. We used ride enduro together in the mountains nearby. I never got the chance to sit next to him in a car but I know that he is a good driver so I think we could have an excellent result.”
“I’ve known Rui for many years as we live very close together here in Portugal. We used ride enduro together in the mountains nearby. I never got the chance to sit next to him in a car but I know that he is a good driver so I think we could have an excellent result.”
