Two months after completing his first Dakar Rally, Iader Giraldi is already training for the next. The Italian rider finished fifty-fifth overall in the Rally2 class in his Dakar début in January, and he is eager to return to the race in 2024.
Celestini Moto, a motorcycle dealership specialising in KTM and GasGas bikes, will sponsor his effort.
“The beauty of this sport is that every training day, even the furthest from the next race, is a day full of celebration and joy,” wrote Giraldi. “As soon as I got on, I threw myself onto the track with the usual moderate fear: the fear of having forgotten everything. Instead, after two bends and three jumps I was already in the special. Crazy how now the eye is used to the speed and the gas no longer fears channels and mounds of sand.
“Last time I lapped here I had six seconds more per lap. The Dakar was excellent training: we started with a different rhythm.”
Giraldi became eligible for the 2022 Dakar Rally via the Road to Dakar at the 2021 Andalucía Rally, but had to wait a year as race organisers felt he needed more experience. In addition to racing the World Rally-Raid Championship legs, he spent 2022 developing a programme called Dealing with the Unexpected to document his physical and mental training for Dakar. Giraldi stressed the importance of mindfulness and inner body stress management to deal with the grueling conditions of the rally.
Riding for Solarys Racing, an Italian outfit whose riders include current W2RC Rally2 points leader Paolo Lucci, Giradi finished fifty-fifth overall in the category with a best run of forty-second in Stage #11. Giraldi viewed his early struggles and rather conservative riding style as a test of his bike and body, or a “battle against the ego”, which ultimately ended with what he said made him feel like a “gladiator coming out of the arena alive and somehow victorious”.
In 2023, Giraldi will compete in the Italian Motorally Championship for Fantic‘s factory team alongside Francesco Catanese, Ottavio Missoni Jr., Gianni Stigliano, and Cesare Zacchetti; all have raced at Dakar either in 2022 or 2023. Giraldi’s friend Tiziano Internó, who competed at the 2023 Rally in the Malle Moto class and continued to cover the race for his Rally POV project despite exiting early due to a crash, is the team’s ambassador. Dakar Rally2 rider Franco Picco will also help out the team.
