“My blood pumps with motors”
CREW FACTS
J.U.
- A young mechanic used to tinkering vehicles in his garage, Josef Unterholzner founded in 1983 the company Autotest and built it up to be a supplier for international manufacturers (Audi, Porsche, Skoda, Lamborghini, McLaren…) with hundreds of employees.
- Since 2016, Unterholzner has been leading the Autotest Motorsport team, with notable successes in the FIA Electric and New Energy Championship.
- A driver himself in several races, the motor enthusiast from South Tyrol now faces his biggest adventure with a maiden participation in the Dakar Classic.
F.G.
- In the wake of his father, Romano Gaioni, Franco competed in the Italian moto rally and enduro championship at the end of the 1980s before he jumped on cars as a rally driver in the 1990s.
- Making the most of his experience and navigating skills, Franco Gaioni became a co-pilot in 2012 alongside Fuzzy Kofler, winner of the FIA Electric and New Energy Championship with Josef Unterholzner’s Autotest Motorsport.
AMBITIONS 2025
J.U.: “My blood pumps with motors, it’s always been part of my life, it’s deep in my heart. I’ve been doing a lot of development around race cars and I was always interested in the Dakar but I didn’t have the means to go there so I watched them. This year, I came to see the world of Dakar and I immediately fell in love. With track events, you do three or four sessions of half an hour each. In a rally, you do 300 to 700 kilometers in a day and I certainly enjoy that.
We’ve done the Rally Classics Africa and it went very well, except for two mistakes that put us quite behind. So, we know we can’t make any mistake if we want to be upfront. Above all, we want to finish the race in one piece. Franco is an expert. He is more than an enthusiast, he’s a professional. He is very precise and he really thinks he can win. He takes the whole thing very seriously and he works to know what he needs to know as the navigator. That’s his part, my job is to drive the car well, to be very careful not to hit rocks or holes or traps like that. And we’ll do our best.”
F.G.: “Regardless of how the Dakar 2025 goes for us, I am already certain that it will be emotionally overwhelming! In fact, on January 17, the day of the last stage and podium finish if we have the privilege of finishing it, it will be exactly 10 years since my wife Sarah has been ill.
From the sporting point of view, on the other hand, it is an immense unknown: as far as regularity is concerned, we know we can do very well, we had proof of that in Morocco in September; however, Josef and I are only doing our second event together, in a special kind of race. It could be a race full of satisfaction or a disaster. Certainly, it will be a wonderful experience that will stay with us for a lifetime.”
