“I still can't believe what's happening to me.
It's a lot for me to be in second place again and now to enjoy it a lot.
This costs a lot.
Every day with a lot of cold, water, fear, anxiety”, commented
Francisco Moreno
, the pilot from Tupungato, Mendoza, when he placed second in the quadricycles in this Dakar 2023 that had Kevin Benavides as a great star.
The race was dominated from the start by the French Alexander Giroud.
And from the beginning Moreno was also his most immediate persecutor.
“This race was very complex.
When I crossed the line, a thousand things crossed my mind.
Plus I went full throttle when I finished.
You feel enormous emotion.
My team supported me a lot.
And the people from Argentina, who supported me from there through the networks.
He dedicated them to them”, highlighted the man from Mendoza, who was very excited after finishing the last special test.
“These last kilometers there was a lot of mud and it was there to stay, you had to come very carefully, that causes a mess.
And the enjoyment is using the concentration for what is being done”, added Moreno.
On the quad, Moreno has phrases stuck to him, which according to him he looks at and remembers from time to time in full stages.
"Believe in you and in my mount and my team, 100%
," says the first.
"Your motivation is your success, until the end"
, is the following.
And she closes with:
“Enjoy the last step just like the first.
mutual trust”
.
In that category, Pablo Copetti was also third, as in 2022, and the category had the closing of Carlos Verza, who was the only Argentine who raced in the name "Malle Moto" (he does not have an assistance team) and Alejandro Fantoni.
In cars it was a fabulous performance by Juan Cruz Yacopini from Mendoza,
who with the Toyota Hilux got into 7th place overall.
Juan Cruz Yacopini painted the AFA shield with the three stars on his Toyota Hilux.
After the very emotional hug with his father, the man from Cuyo commented to
Clarín
: “I did a spectacular Dakar.
I prepared all year.
I had many blows and frustrations.
My goal was to be in the Top Ten and that's how it was.
And I am happy for the great Argentine performance in this Dakar, with Kevin (Benavides) and Fran (Moreno).
I hope it's a great year."
The other man from Mendoza who shone was
Sebastián Halpern
, who with the X-Raid team's Mini placed ninth: “It was a terrible finish 5 kilometers from the end we got smoke and we thought it couldn't be.
But we arrived.
Once again we were Top Ten.
The second day we had problems and we were left with 46. And from there we advanced.
Never give up, never stop dreaming and always fight for your dreams”.
Sebastián Halpern and the mission accomplished to be top ten.
Photo: Shakedown Team
The winner in this category was Nasser Al-Attiyah, who prevailed aboard his Toyota and won his fifth historical title of the event.
The Qatari, who had already prevailed in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2022, added three stage victories in this edition of the event and led the Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive) and the young Brazilian Lucas Moraes (Toyota) by more than an hour. ) in general.
In the light cars, there were fantastic performances by
Jeremías Gonzáles Ferioli
, who fought within the Top Five of his category, as well as
Juan Manuel “Pato” Silva
, with the Puma Energy Rally Team, who arrived “intact” at the end of the route;
or the cases of David Zille (winner of a stage) and the willpower of Nicolás Cavigliaso, who did not give up despite the problems of the first week.
Pato Silva, this time, reached the last day of the competition.
Photo: Shakedown Team
The other Benavides, notable
All the lights focus on the winner of the Dakar 2023, Kevin Benavides.
But
his younger brother, Luciano, 27, was established with this competition.
Rider of the Husqvarna team, a brand that is, together with Gas Gas, in the KTM structure, he was frustrated because up to now he had not been able to win any stage of the Dakar.
And
in this edition he took three wins, one more than his brother.
“It's incredible, but I couldn't achieve a partial victory in a Dakar, I felt pressured by the results.
Until I clicked and went out to enjoy each stage.
And so came the first triumph.
And incredibly two more arrived.
It could even have been four, but they penalized me in an unusual way in the penultimate stage”, highlighted Luciano.
“In this last stage the truth is that I was not very focused.
I came through the whole stage thinking about how Kevin, who was fighting for the final victory, would do it”, indicated the youngest of the brothers.
In fact, upon reaching the judgment line, Luciano got off his Husqvarna and ran to the control position, to closely follow the exciting definition, which was finally left in the hands, for the second time, of his already legendary older brother. , Kevin.
Damman, Saudi Arabia.
Special for Clarion.
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Kevin Benavides, the king of the Dakar: the impulse of Leo Messi and La Scaloneta and a very special memory