“The desert belonged to us”
CREW FACTS
D.L.
- From Venezia’s Francesco Morosini Naval Military School, where they became friends as teenagers, to Saudi Arabia, where they finished their first Dakar in 2024, Stefano Crementieri and Damiano Lipani have lived “thousands of adventures together, over the seas and into the desert”.
- Damiano went on to become a lawyer with a consuming passion for the great outdoors, shared with his friend. The duo notably explored the Empty Quarter and participated in the Titan Desert.
- In 2025, Stefano and Damiano’s adventure also supports a new project, “Napoli Dakar-a Road to employment”, built with Napolitan associations and schools. Two students benefitted from the automotive expertise of R Team while another two are working on a documentary about the whole initiative.
S.C.
- From Venezia’s Francesco Morosini Naval Military School, where they became friends as teenagers, to Saudi Arabia, where they finished their first Dakar in 2024, Stefano Crementieri and Damiano Lipani have lived “thousands of adventure together, over the seas and into the desert”.
- Piloting aircrafts as an admiral for the Italian Navy, Stefano was based in Oman, where he discovered the Empty Quarter, one of his many explorations of the desert, including a participation in the Titan Desert.
- In 2025, Stefano and Damiano’s adventure also supports a new project, “Napoli Dakar - a road to employment”, built with Napolitan associations and schools. Two students benefitted from the automotive expertise of R Team while another two are working on a documentary about the whole initiative.
AMBITIONS 2025
D.L.: “There are three things that connect us to the Dakar Classic: our friendship, the spirit of adventure and the love of the desert. And this cocktail somehow pushed us to repeat this beautiful experience. We didn’t feel any trouble in the desert. We felt protected, protected by this immensity of sand, protected by the starry sky, protected by the fact that we were together. The desert belonged to us.
Let’s say that this first allowed us to get a sense of the game is played. Now we want to get a bit more in the mix, we’ll try to get a good result. Obviously, we don’t aim for the top but we’re convinced that we can give everyone a hard battle this year.
We are also very happy to promote a project whose goal is to create expertise and a concrete job opportunity. The Dakar is an intense and challenging competition that I am convinced will also excite the young people who have the opportunity to join our expedition, changing their way of living, believing in goals and facing difficulties.”
S.C.: “Our first Dakar showed us that the pilots enjoy themselves, the navigators work a bit of their ass off but the real heroes of the Dakar, who sacrifice their all, are the mechanics. One night, we broke the motor and the mechanics worked the whole night so we could start again at 5 am. There wasn’t much we could do, we were just watching and we had an immense respect for them.
And then there was an even more impressive moment, with a smell of burning… It was during the marathon stage and our back left wheel was on fire. It was midday and by midnight we still hadn’t managed to get the car ready. The broom truck came, they offered to pick us up, but they couldn’t take the car because they had already loaded one. So, we stayed there, we got in our night blankets around 4 am, and then some locals arrived. Stefano spoke Arabic with them, they also offered us a lift but we couldn’t leave the car so they made us a meal. Eventually, the assistance arrived at 6 pm, so some 30 hours after we had to stop and they saved our Dakar again. Everyone in the bivouac was telling us: ‘You are rookies and you got to live what every contender hopes for: to get lost in the desert and spend the night with nomads’.
We thought this was an example that should be shown to inspire others and that’s how the idea of the project was born. The youngsters got to be with R Team since May, they got to see what it means to work on the car and they will assist us in the Dakar 2025.”
S.C.: “Our first Dakar showed us that the pilots enjoy themselves, the navigators work a bit of their ass off but the real heroes of the Dakar, who sacrifice their all, are the mechanics. One night, we broke the motor and the mechanics worked the whole night so we could start again at 5 am. There wasn’t much we could do, we were just watching and we had an immense respect for them.
And then there was an even more impressive moment, with a smell of burning… It was during the marathon stage and our back left wheel was on fire. It was midday and by midnight we still hadn’t managed to get the car ready. The broom truck came, they offered to pick us up, but they couldn’t take the car because they had already loaded one. So, we stayed there, we got in our night blankets around 4 am, and then some locals arrived. Stefano spoke Arabic with them, they also offered us a lift but we couldn’t leave the car so they made us a meal. Eventually, the assistance arrived at 6 pm, so some 30 hours after we had to stop and they saved our Dakar again. Everyone in the bivouac was telling us: ‘You are rookies and you got to live what every contender hopes for: to get lost in the desert and spend the night with nomads’.
We thought this was an example that should be shown to inspire others and that’s how the idea of the project was born. The youngsters got to be with R Team since May, they got to see what it means to work on the car and they will assist us in the Dakar 2025.”
