Christine GZ abandoning 2025 Dakar Rally entry due to budget

Barring a miracle, Christine GZ will have to wait until 2026 for her next Dakar Rally. On Tuesday, she announced that due to a lack of funding, she will not be able to race the 2025 edition as she had hoped.

“I would love to say we are READY FOR @dakarrally,” began GZ’s post, “but unfortunately… we didn’t make it. We tried it all, but couldn’t find the budget….”

GZ made her Dakar début in 2024 after years of competing in the Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship. Driving a Can-Am Maverick X3 for FN Speed Team, she finished thirteenth in the SSV class after hanging within the top fifteen for much of the rally before late mechanical issues hampered her progress in the final few days, including a broken front differential in Stages #10 and #11. Still, she ended the race with a best daily finish of tenth.

Outside of cross-country rally, she has competed in stage rally and Extreme E. GZ was involved with the latter since the inaugural season in 2021, where she finished ninth in points, while her last start was a third at the first Hydro X Prix in 2023 for Carl Cox Motorsport before becoming the series’ test driver.

Ricardo Torlaschi, who served as her navigator for the Dakar, will enter the 2025 race with TH-Trucks. Scheduled for 3–17 January, it will be his thirteenth Dakar.