Lima: Spanish motorcyclist Laia Sanz, one of only 14 women competing in the motorbike category of the 2018 Dakar Rally, feels that the process of expanding female participation in the event will be a gradual one.
Sanz, 32, reflected on the presence of women in the event as she prepared to ride in her 8th Dakar, where female competitors will make up only 10 per cent of the 140-strong field in the motorbike race, according to media reports.
“We need a few years to see more women in the Dakar,” she told Efe. “We need to wait for them to develop and to have the support to participate in the rally.”
The 13-time Women’s Trial World Champion rider holds the distinction of achieving the highest-ever finish for a female competitor in the Dakar: 9th place overall in the motorbike class in the 2015 edition of the event.
The Spanish rider has also reached the finish line in all seven of her previous appearances in the Dakar.
While she considers finishing in the top-15 overall a “realistic” goal for this year’s race, Sanz said she’s hoping to reach to the top 10 for a second time.
“I come here encouraged because I have experience, which is always good in a race of this kind and especially this year, which will be a very tough year,” she said.
The course for the 2018 Dakar Rally extends nearly 9,000 kilometres from Lima to the Argentine city of Cordoba.
This year’s 40th anniversary race marks a decade since the event was moved from Africa to South America due to security concerns.
The Rally is expected to attract over 1.5 million spectators in Peru, according to an estimate announced by the Peruvian Minister of Foreign Commerce and Tourism Eduardo Ferreyros.
About 90 per cent of the audience will be Peruvian, while the remaining 10 per cent will be foreigners, mainly from Chile, Brazil and France, Ferreyros said on Thursday.
On its way to Bolivia and then Argentina, the Dakar Rally will pass through the Peruvian regions of Lima, Ica, Arequipa and Puno, where the competitors will pass by the western shore of the world’s highest navigable Lake Titicaca at 3,800 metres above sea level.
In addition to the Dakar Village, which will feature giant screens, official items stores, virtual reality experiences and official vehicle exhibitions, there will also be two other similar fairs in the cities of Pisco (Ica) and Puno.
The Dakar Rally began yesterday from Lima with over 337 vehicles competing in the event and will travel over 9,000km to its finish point in Cordoba, Argentina on January 20.
