The Spanish driver Cristina Gutiérrez, who will debut in the Dakar 2025 as a driver for an official team in the T1+ category with Dacia, defended that she sees it as “feasible” to make a ‘top 5’ in the overall race, a result that “it would be incredible”, aware that it is not “the fastest”, but it is “constant”, something that may be one of the keys.
“I care a lot about the general classification and making a ‘top 5’ would be incredible. Feasible? Yes, I see it as feasible. Would I change a stage victory with a top 5? Yes. But my philosophy is like a turtle” said the woman from Burgos, driver of the official Dacia team in the Dakar 2025, at an event organized by the brand in Madrid.
Gutiérrez, winner of the Dakar last January in the prototype category thanks to her ability to endure and believe until the end – she won the title in the last stage – believes that this way of understanding races can benefit her achieve that goal. “There are at least 15 drivers who go out at their best every day, they are going to fall,” he analyzed.
“And I am aware that I am not the fastest, but I know that a strong point in the Dakar is to be consistent, and if we achieve it, like last year, I know that we can make, of course, a ‘top 10’. “A ‘top 5’, perhaps I have been too pretentious, but it is feasible, knowing that the others are going to fall,” she added.
The 33-year-old Spaniard is “savoring everything very much”, grateful for running the Dakar, “a race of opportunities”, with an official team for the first time. “The first moment of taking the car was very nice, as well as the tests. They have been hard, but we have learned a lot,” he commented.
“The Dacia is quite drivable and very easy to handle. It goes very fast, but it is very stable. I felt very comfortable from the first moment. You have to find the limit of the car without crashing, and in Morocco we noticed an incredible improvement in relation to when we drove it. we caught for the first time,” he added.
In addition, it will debut in the T1+ category, which it arrived as prototype champion last January, with “a different pressure.” “I have two of the best drivers in the world in the team, who are Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb. I arrive as the third car, but with great desire, because it is true that I have just won,” he warned.
“Before driving the car, I also wanted to be quite realistic. My sporting life has always been about big but realistic goals. I didn’t want to crash with a goal that was too illusory. Having done the tests and having seen times, comparisons, with telemetry between the other drivers and I, and watching the Morocco Rally, fighting among the top 10 in all the stages, because I see myself as competitive, I’m in a very good moment,” she celebrated ahead of the Dakar.
“NOW I HAVE MORE INTERIORIZED THE PRESSURE TO WIN”
Although she was cautious and remembered that she has “years ahead” of her professional career, so she wants to “go from less to more.” “I don’t know what is going to happen, because you never know in the Dakar. But what I am clear about is that I am going to go out and win, in my own way, to give and do the best I know how,” said the woman from Burgos, who confessed that he needs to “find the limit of the car.”
“You can now go through the holes that I used to go through with the light vehicle that I destroyed in the car, as well as the jumps. I have to find that limit, driving and doing kilometers, that’s how my highest level will come out. I’m lucky that Dacia gives me many kilometers of testing, and I think it will come on its own, it is a matter of time. I have the time, the form and the desire,” he defended.
Now, he has “more experience” with the pressure of winning. “I have internalized that pressure more and now the pressure is simply to give the level and to be at the top, because I believe we can do it and we will surely be at the top,” he wished.
And his background and prestige within the Raid Rally has been earned without references. “You are making your way because you are doing and you are working and you are suffering. I wouldn’t be where I am right now if I hadn’t had the people I have around me, because the moment I asked for the loan I was half ruined, without trust In me, I wanted to quit and I wanted to continue dedicating myself to being a dentist, which at that time was what I was doing,” he revealed.
“Thanks to that perseverance and to continuing, thanks to those around me who pushed me to continue, I continued fighting, making my way and luck caught me working. I was at the time and in the place with the right people who gave me the opportunity. And it is important that a brand like Dacia has bet on me, because it has taken a risk. It is pride, and I have to give it back. But it is a good bet, because this is just the beginning,” he expressed.
Thus, Gutiérrez highlighted the Rally Raid format, in which men and women compete “face to face.” “It is a sport where there are no genders and it is proven and we can see that we can compete. It is clear that there are good drivers and there are plenty to choose from, but the brand also has to give the opportunity. It is good that Dacia is setting an example and has done I believe that as a result of this decision others will come, for sure,” he predicted.
And with Dacia, the objective is “to go and win”, although they are “aware that it is the first year” and for a new car to win is “very complicated.” “But the atmosphere of the team, and seeing the result in Morocco, we are optimistic, but also realistic. In the Dakar, making pools is very complicated,” he analyzed.
“The strong point is the team we have formed, we are like a family, all the information is shared, we are all united, and that makes us stronger. And the weak point is that it is the first year, because the reliability is going to be there, and surely things will come out that we haven’t seen or that haven’t come out yet, but I still don’t know the Achilles’ heel,” he said about the best and worst of the project.
Finally, Gutiérrez, who also worked as a dentist until the Dacia project came to her, told an anecdote at the end of one of the stages in the toughest race in the world. “A man’s sheath had come off, I don’t know who it was, and he asked me if I could put some kind of glue on it to stick it at the moment. And I said ‘I’m not going to put anything on it because it might get infected, and In the end I think they put glue on, but I didn’t go, I didn’t go,” he said, laughing.