Barbora Holická and Lucie Engová will bring their 1979 Citroën 2CV back to the Dakar Classic in 2025. After checking off a successful finish in their début this year, their goal for 2025 will be to contend for the win.
The two finished sixty-third overall in the 2024 Dakar Classic and won the H1.A category. However, it was certainly no walk in the park. At one point in Stage #10, the car got stuck and they had to get it towed to the finish. Nevertheless, they achieved their goal and became the first Citroën 2CV to complete the event, whether in the Classic or the main Dakar Rally.
“Last year, our team had a clear goal: to reach the finish,” said Holická. “We raced with an original car, barely modified, just as the 2CV teams had done at the historic Paris–Dakar Rally in Africa. We achieved our goal and became the first Citroën 2CV to finish the Dakar.”
Their 2CV was designed by Josef Rataj with a very colourful livery and a rubber duck on the side. Nicknamed “Duckar”, the car was part of a larger project to support duck raising at Safari Park Dvůr Králové. Rataj will create a new wrap for the 2025 car.
The Citroën 2CV had been used by various competitors in the Dakar’s early history such as Jean-Louis Ramel in 1983 and Claude Yves Petelet in 1985. Pierre David entered the latter in a modified 2CV, only to retire from the Prologue. Holická’s 2CV, which entered on the 75th anniversary for the car, was the fifteenth instance of one taking part.
“We gained a lot of experience in January,” began mechanic Tomáš Neruda. “I’ve been building 2CVs for over thirty years, but I had never built an off-road version. I know these cars from global rallies, where the off-road community comes together to race on African sands, but I had no firsthand experience.
“We spent a lot of time brainstorming possible modifications for the African terrain and which would take us further. We thought about thge car’s weight, the gearbox, and especially the engine’s power. We’re consulting a specialist in Belgium, and we even built an engine there that produces double the output at the same weight while still being a simple air-cooled twin-cylinder boxer.”
Holická and Engová primarily compete in stage rally, the latter as both a driver and navigator for her brother Tomáš Enge.
The 2025 Dakar Classic runs in tandem with the Dakar Rally on 3–17 January.
