“I’d like to try and win in Rally 2”

Coming from Castiglione Fiorentino, like his fellow compatriot, the late Fabrizio Meoni, Paolo Lucci made his Dakar debut in 2022. Although he is only 30 years old, Paolo Lucci already has plenty of experience in racing, especially in motocross and enduro. He first tried rally-raid in 2012 and from there he was hooked. He did one rally-raid a year since 2018 before stepping up the pace last season by taking part in two rounds of the FIM Rally-Raid World Cup. In 2021, he finished second in Rally 2 in Andalusia and Morocco. For his first Dakar in 2022, he had to retire following an engine failure on stage 8. Italy has very high hopes for Paolo Lucci, who ended the 2022 campaign in ninth place in the Rally-Raid World Cup with a third-place finish in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. On his second Dakar in 2023, the Tuscan rider finished second place in Rally 2 for the prestigious BAS World KTM Racing Team, with whom he finished second in the Rally-Raid World Cup, 17 points behind winner Romain Dumontier.

“During the last Dakar, things went rather well for me. I finished 15th overall and 2nd in Rally2. I then did the whole World Cup to prepare for this Dakar. I’m very happy about the way I have been preparing. I went to Tunisia a few weeks ago to train one last time in the desert. Since then, I’ve been training motocross on sand tracks. For the next Dakar, I’d like to finish in the top ten overall, or as close as possible, and try to win in Rally 2.”