Seven years after his début, Nandu Jubany could have one other go on the Dakar Rally in 2025, albeit on 4 wheels when he races an MD Optimus for MD Rallye Sport. Marc Solà will function his navigator.
Jubany first raced the Dakar Rally in 2018 on a motorcycle, ending fifty-third total. A former Spanish Enduro Junior Champion, he was initially presupposed to race in 2017 earlier than pushing it again a 12 months because of a damaged wrist he sustained whereas coaching. The hassle checked off a serious bucket record merchandise of his, and he initially declared that he had no intention of returning to the Dakar sooner or later. Nevertheless, the attract of racing a automobile was too nice to withstand.
“After I completed (in 2018), I promised myself that I wouldn’t undergo that once more, however you say that and three months later you’re already fascinated by doing it once more,” Jubany informed SPORT on the 2025 Dakar Rally presentation on Saturday. “I don’t know what it’s in regards to the Dakar, however it will get you hooked. My dream was to do it on a bike as a result of I’m a biker, however I actually racing typically and driving a automobile. Once we see photographs of the Dakar on tv, it makes all of the followers wish to go. All of us wish to go and be there. […] I don’t know what the Dakar provides you, some type of tablet, however whenever you’ve executed it as soon as, you at all times wish to come again.”
Initially, Jubany thought-about racing within the SSV class earlier than Dakar veteran and enduro champion Josep Vila i Roca launched him to MD Sport. As an alternative, he’ll race an Optimus within the T1.2 subcategory.
Solà, who additionally made the soar from bikes to automobiles, completed eleventh in SSV on the 2024 Dakar because the co-driver for Ricardo Ramilo. Jubany additionally has the help of mates and Dakar opponents like two-time winner Nani Roma, Roma’s spouse Rosa Romero Font, and Gerard Farrés; Roma, who received the 2004 race on a motorcycle, helped Jubany practice for the 2018 version.
To organize for Dakar, Jubany plans to race the Rallye du Maroc on 5–11 October. If this and Dakar go effectively, he hopes to additionally participate within the 2025 BP Final Rally-Raid in Portugal adopted by that 12 months’s Rallye du Maroc for one more stab at Dakar in 2026.
Outdoors of racing, Jubany is a chef who runs Restaurant Can Jubany in Calldetendes, Catalonia. He obtained a Michelin Star in 1998.
The 2025 Dakar Rally runs on 3–17 January.
