Pedro Peñate is a class act

December 31 ^st 2026 - 16:20 [GMT + 3]

Pedro Peñate is set to tackle his tenth Dakar in the fifth different class, more than any other Spaniard. He is part of the Ultimate field, the last FIA class on his checklist.

Pedro Peñate and Bart Simpson have two things in common: a remarkable head of hair that almost gets tangled up in the clouds and a complete inability to stay put! He made his Dakar debut in 2009 on a motorbike, as is only natural for the man who has run the KTM dealership in the Canary Islands —a Spanish archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa— for 25 years. After four consecutive editions in South America between then and 2012, he took a break until he felt the time had come to have a go at the FIA classes in Saudi Arabia. SSV, Challenger, trucks… and now Ultimate for the Spaniard's fourth Dakar on four wheels: "I just love every class, I'm mad about off-road racing". Although Peñate is proud to write "one of the side stories of the Dakar", the all-time record is not on his radar. He may be the sole entrant from the Fortunate Isles and the only Spaniard who has battled on so many fronts, but Kees Koolen is just one class short of completing the whole collection. After racing on a motorbike, on a quad, in a car, in a truck and in an SSV, the Dutchman will be competing in Challenger in a couple of days. That puts him one class ahead of Peñate, who just wants to "have a blast". Sitting behind the wheel of Carlos Checa's former Century two-wheel drive, he makes no secret of his aspirations: "Ultimate is the premier class, so I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground, but I'll give it my all, as I always do. Competition is in my DNA".