“Not breaking down in the first 24 hours would be nice…”
Crew facts
D P
- Daniel Pycock was born in Norwich in the UK and studied in Aberdeen in Scotland. But his family has always had a strong connection with Spain, making him both bicultural and bilingual.
- For the past 20 years he has opted for the warmer climes of Madrid where he runs an international company organising corporate events all over the world.
- He is married ‘to my beautiful Spanish wife’ and is the very proud dad of three daughters aged 18, 15 and 9.
- Daniel’s Dakar ambitions haven’t come out of the blue. Both his father and his grandfather were keen amateur mechanics, always messing around with cars.
- Daniel will be navigated by his best friend, business partner and ‘best co-driver’ Francisco Gomez. Although they are both Dakar rookies they already have quite a lot of experience, having taken part in numerous rallies including the Morocco Challenge and the Panda Raid.
- They will be using their own car, a Mitsubishi Montero but have entrusted final preparations to experienced Spanish team Pedrega.
F G
- Fran went to English school then university in Madrid and finished off his business and law studies in Toronto.
- He has two daughters aged 11 and 14. His hobbies include CrossFit, hiking and surfing. He also pays football for a local team. Basically, he’s pretty sporty. His business takes care of the audio-visual aspect of corporate events. If these are in Europe they ship their own material. If it is overseas they use local partners.
- Daniel was his business partner first before they became friends. Now they are ‘closer than family’. Although geographically they are 600 kilometres apart. While Daniel is based in Madrid Fran lives in Marbella. They do however spend plenty of time together. Last year they sat next to each other on over 60 flights.
Ambition
D P: “Although Fran and myself originally worked on our car, before enlisting the help of a mechanic friend, we decided to hand over the final prep and logistics to Pedrega because they have an excellent reputation. I thought it was important to have a mechanic on the rally who knew the car so as to minimise any problems we might have. An added benefit is that Pedrega enters vehicles in other categories and it will be interesting to see that aspect of the race close up. We don’t rule out coming back in the SSV or Challenger category at a late date. I’m really looking forward to experiencing the dimension of the Dakar and am proud to be part of such a major event. I’m sure it will be tough but I’m not intimidated by it. I’m 100% sure that Fran and I have overcome harder challenges in our professional and personal lives. As far as how we perform on the Dakar Classic, not breaking down in the first 24 hours would be nice. A finish would be even better, but we’re not looking to get on the podium.”
F G: “The whole thing started off as a bit of fun with an old Seat Panda. Then just before Covid we met these two guys from Seville and became really good friends. We did a few more rallies together and basically over time kind of talked each other into the Dakar. It started out as a running joke and then got serious and now our friends from Seville are coming on the Dakar with us! As far as our ambitions for the Dakar are concerned a finish is what we’re aiming for. If the car survives all the hours, we’ll be driving it then already that will be a result and we’ll be more than happy!”
