Cristina Gutierrez signs with Darcia manufacturer – competing in 2WRC Championship and Dakar 2025. The announcement aligns Gutierrez and rally legend Sebastien Loeb with Darcia’s forward trajectory of car development, testing and racing with synthetic fuel at the world’s most iconic race in Saudi Arabia.
Straight up, the signing of Cristina holds significant importance for the Spanish driver whose resume boasts many firsts: #1 female to win Dakar Rally Stage in 2021, podium finish in Dakar Rally T3 in 2022, winning 2022 Extreme E with Loeb, winning FIA Cross Country World Cup in 2021, along with top finish in 2022 2WRC against male peers.
As Cristina states, to work with her mentor and all out 9x Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb on such a collaborative initiative with Darcia, paves new pathway for the development of her career, both on and off the track. Not only will Gutierrez ensconce herself with the testing and running of the Prototype car engineered by UK based Prodrive, but will also have the opportunity to develop performance in the most extreme Off-Road Rally in the world.
Most certainly, the complimentary pairing of Loeb and Gutierrez, racing behind the wheel in T1 category sets new bench-mark for manufactures to run new technology in Dakar for the objective of Off-Road vehicle sales. As Cristina makes clear, the development of the car remains important for setting and achieving goals in all encompassing use of sustainable fuels. So to does, marketing Darcia vehicles which have proven capabilities of performance competing in Dakar Rally Stages 1 – 12.
While Dakar Rally Future has ear-marked the T1-U category for testing decarbonization technologies during the 14 day race, Cristina, Loeb and Darcia have taken up the mantle to test and produce results which not only equal the ability of the Team, but also strengthen the collaborative process from vehicle design – to race mode – to sustainable fuel based performance – to market sales.
As Darcia CEO Denis le Vot explains at recent Press Conference: ”The Dakar Rally is becoming a technical laboratory for low carbon mobility. The race is a human, sporting, and technical adventure”’, which not appeals to Darcia’s founding principle of performance, but also seals an alliance between gendered pairing of driver’s – Loeb and Gutierrez, Prodrive, and Aramco.
Most certainly, Cristina has based her entire racing career on remaining true to her sense of value, moral ethics, and strength of conviction to pursue a career in Motorsport aligned with those principles of thought. From competing and standing on podium in The Dakar Rally from 2017 – to present day, to racing all-electric Extreme E Series and winning the Championship in 2022, to competing on level playing field in Off-Road Rallies, @cris-tortu speaks her truth on and off the track.
The new alliance formed with Darcia, merely confirms Cristina’s status in the world on Motorsport, now and in the years to come.
Header photo: Cristina Gutierrez competing 2WRC Championship Sonora Rally 2023 Image: @cris-tortu
Words: Sharon Cox.
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