Gerard Farrés Guell has competed in every Dakar Rally since 2009 and the streak will continue in 2023 when he returns to South Racing Can-Am in the SSV category. It will be his fourth time running the class after racing Bikes. To prepare for Dakar, he and co-driver Diego Ortega Gil will take part in the Andalucía Rally on 18–23 October.
Farrés made his Dakar début in 2006, where he was the highest-finishing rookie in sixteenth. His best performance on two wheels came in 2017 when he finished third, the peak in a three-year stretch from 2016 to 2018 where he score top tens. He switched to SSVs in 2019 and immediately made an impact by placing runner-up in class. While he dropped to eleventh in 2020, he was able to score three stage wins.
With Ortega Gil by his side for the 2022 race, he finished second once again, this time to Austin Jones. Farrés notched another win in Stage #7 and had led the class overall after finishing second in the penultimate leg before his sixth and Jones’ third in the finale swapped their positions.
“Very happy to compete again in the next Dakar Rally together with Diego Ortega and of course, with the South Racing Can-Am team,” Farrés posted on social media Friday. “We salute you from Zuera where we have been training and preparing for the Andalucía Rally which will take place this October. Thank you to all the sponsors Scott Abraham and Oscar Lanza for making it possible!”
While Farrés did not compete in the other two World Rally-Raid Championship legs in Abu Dhabi and Morocco, it makes sense for him to pursue Andalucía as it takes place in his native Spain. At the inaugural rally in 2020, he finished runner-up in the T4 category to Can-Am team-mate Aron Domżala. He is a three-time Moto winner of the Baja Aragón Span in 2007, 2009, and 2011.
The 2023 Dakar Rally begins on 31 December 2022.
