It’s official now, but not a surprise. Why find Carlos Checa it had been taken for granted on the Dakar 2022 entry list for a long time. In AS we said that he was taking all the steps for it this season and the usual MotoGP broadcasts on ‘DAZN’, in which the Catalan collaborates, were also warned. But it was not until this Wednesday when It has been announced that the 2011 Superbike champion will be in the Arab desert in January to race an Optimus buggy from the French team MD Rallye Sport.
“I have wanted to participate in the Dakar for a long time and, finally, this year all the circumstances have been given for me to carry out this important challenge”, To begin with, Checa says, that this year he has participated in two casualties, that of Italy and that of Aragon, to finish channeling his project on four wheels in “the maximum expression of motor racing from the point of view of adventure and the challenge”. “I have always been attracted to challenges and this is a challenge with capital letters,” he says in the announcement statement.
He is joining the Dakar for the adventure, but above all for the competition. And it is that someone like him who has competed at the highest level for so many years (he was in the Motorcycle World Championship from 1993 to 2007 and in the SBK from 2008 to 2013) will go to Saudi Arabia to give everything: “I hope to have a great experience, but do it by competing and fighting for the best possible results. As the cliché would say, I am not going to the Dakar for a walk. “ And for this, he entrusts his team of the category side by side: “MD Rallye Sport are passionate romantics from the world of motoring and have extraordinary professionalism and rigor.”
Ferran Marco, his co-pilot
And to complete its structure, Czech will have Ferran Marco on the right, co-pilot with extensive experience in the Dakar: he has participated in 15 editions since 1997, the last in the Iveco truck that Albert Llovera drove in 2020. “He is an exceptional guy, a great navigator and a person who puts a lot of rigor and professionalism into everything. what does. So far we have understood each other perfectly “, says Carlos de Ferrán, with whom he has already raced in Aragon and who will give him the experience he needs. This week they are testing in Morocco to fine-tune Checa’s preparation for his return to motoring in a big way.