Trial and enduro star Sandra Gómez is the newest addition to the Fantic Rally Team, and will make her début at the Rallye du Maroc before running the 2025 Dakar Rally on a Fantic XEF 450 Rally.
Gómez is a two-time Spanish Women’s Trial Champion who has also competed at the FIM Trial European and World Championships, and is a six-time winner of the Women’s Trial des Nations for Spain. On the enduro side, she won the 2015 AMA Endurocross and 2016 FIM SuperEnduro World Championships on the women’s side. She also has three X Games medals in Enduro X, consisting of a bronze each at Barcelona and Munich in 2013 and a silver in 2014, and was the first woman to finish the Red Bull Romaniacs in the Gold class in 2020.
Although a GasGas factory rider in enduro and trials, Gómez raced a Husqvarna and KTM at her two Dakar Rally starts in 2022 and 2023. A longtime rally fan, the opportunity arose after training with help from current RallyGP competitor Lorenzo Santolino. She finished fortieth in her Dakar début, while her 2023 race was cut short by mechanical issues after five stages.
After the 2023 Dakar, she and Jorge Zaragoza won the inaugural FIM E-Xplorer World Cup for MIE Racing. She moved to INDE Racing for the 2024 season, who is third in the standings after two rounds alongside Runar Sudmann.
Morocco will be her first World Rally-Raid Championship outside of Dakar since the 2022 Andalucía Rally, where she finished eleventh in Rally2 and was runner-up in the FIM Women’s Trophy.
An enduro powerhouse, Fantic frequently employs riders from the discipline for their rally raid programme. Jeremy Miroir finished nineteenth in Rally2 at the latest Dakar in January ahead of Jane Daniels (thirty-third) and Tommaso Montanari (seventy-eighth) in a three-bike effort. Tomás de Gavardo, who joined the team in August, was a national enduro champion in Chile.
“I am so excited to become part of this big family, and it is also great that Fantic continues to believe in and support the women’s category,” said Gómez. “They have achieved fantastic results with Jane, which is an extra motivation for me to keep up that good work. I have already had a chance to test the Fantic for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised; the bike feels really easy to ride. Of course, it is new to me and I will need to adapt, but my first impression was very positive. I like it and I can’t wait to ride it in the desert to see what we can achieve. I am looking forward to getting back into action at the rallies.”
In April, Fantic expanded their rally presence by creating the Fantic Rally Raid and Fantic Rally Xperience. The former offers factory support for Fantic XEF 450 Rally owners at W2RC events whereas the latter is focused on amateur events.
“I have already had the chance to see her in action on our bike, and the first impression was really positive,” added Fantic business development manager Matilde Tomagnini. “She is fast and there is an amazing feeling, so I am confident that together we will reach great results. Building on the success we have achieved with Jane, we aim to confirm our position at the top of the women’s category.”
The Rallye du Maroc will take place on 6–11 October, while the 2025 Dakar Rally runs 3–17 January.
