Dakar 2022: Lascorz completes historic bid in ninth

Joan Lascorz has become the first quadriplegic to race in the world’s toughest rally, finishing ninth overall in the SSV T4 class.

Despite little training and no competition for two years, Lascorz, together with his co-driver Miguel Puertas and the entire Buggy Masters Team not only completed the Dakar 2022 but finished in the Side-by-side class top ten despite a raft of hurdles and concerns over the Spaniard’s health. Friday’s final day saw an extended liaison route before a short 164kms special as the rally-raid concluded in Jeddah. The pair set off with a half-hour advantage over their nearest rival, allowing Lascorz breathing space as he brought the #447 buggy home in 27th while defending his overall classification.

The past twelve stages and fourteen days of desert adventure have seen the ex-WorldSBK rider repeatedly fight to secure top-15 finishes, avoid errors and mechanical failures and overcome both infection and fever. Navigating over 8,000kms in his Guidosimplex adapted buggy to complete the Dakar within the top ten, thanks in part to the crowdfunding support of the public and his fans. “Here we are, in Jeddah!” Lascorz exclaimed on Friday afternoon. “We have reached the end of the Dakar. Thanks to all the supporters behind, those who have helped us: thank you all very much, without all of you it would not have been possible.

“It has been a very tough Dakar. Not only for me: people who have done several ‘Dakars’ have told me that this one has been quite hard. I have suffered a lot these days. When my fever rose, I thought that I would recover the next day, every time I went to sleep, I thought that I would wake up better, but the mileage was accumulating in my body and every morning that I woke up I was more