He Astara Team prepare your participation in the Dakar 2024 with the brand new additions of Patricia Pita and Paolo Boggioni, who will form a team with Laia Sanz and Maurizio Gerini (repeat for the second consecutive year) and will represent Latin America.
The innovative Dakar team takes another step in its commitment to sustainability and improves the formulation of the synthetic fuel it uses until it reaches total neutrality in CO2 emissions.
At its headquarters in Madrid, Astara presented its plans for the next Dakar Rally, which will be held in Saudi Arabia in January 2024. The team that has shown that it can compete at the highest level and take care of the planet, returns to the Dakar in 2024 with a renewed team led by the pilots Laia Sanz and Patricia Pita, and improvements to your Astara 02 Concept vehicle.
For the third consecutive year, the team opts for synthetic fuel and this time increases its formulation to achieve a completely neutral carbon footprint (zero emissions) in its competition vehicles, compared to 90% in 2023 and 70% in 2022.
With effort and persistence we will achieve what we set out to do.
The two pairs of drivers and co-drivers who will drive the cars will be Laia Sanz-Maurizio Gerini and Patricia Pita-Paolo Boggioni, with Óscar Fuertes as team manager. This is the first time in the T1.2 Ultimate category of the Dakar that two female drivers lead a team.
Laia Sanz, undisputed off-road reference, will compete in the car category for the third consecutive year (second with the Astara Team) with the Italian co-driver Maurizio Gerini, bringing the value of experience, while Uruguayan Patricia Pita and Chilean co-driver Paolo Boggioni will bring passion and talent to the team.
For Laia Sanz: “It is an honor to race for the second year with the Astara Team. The evolution of the vehicle represents a great step forward. It is 100% emissions neutral, lighter and has better performance. Furthermore, we all know each other better and have accumulated experience. With effort and persistence we will achieve what we set out to do.”
![Astara Team](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2023/12/05/656f86cc7d4c7.jpeg)
Participating for the first time with a team of this level is an unimaginable dream
For Patricia Pita: “Participating for the first time with a team of this level is an unimaginable dream. It is a great opportunity to have Laia as her partner and learn from her. The Dakar teaches you that we impose limits on ourselves and that passion and perseverance can take you wherever you want”.
In any case, the Astara Team is much more than the pilots and co-pilots who will challenge the dunes in Arab lands. The team is made up of more than 30 people of different nationalities and 6 assistance and support vehicles that form a powerful structure to face this edition of the Dakar with total guarantees.
Car features for the Dakar
The Astara Team arrives with an evolution of its 01 Concept competition car, the new Astara 02 Concept. The goal is to win the T1.2 Ultimate category –two-wheel drive– and improve what was achieved in previous years in terms of sustainability and competitiveness. To achieve this, it uses the lightest weight in the category – 1,580 kilos dry – and important improvements in power, suspension and aerodynamics that make it much more competitive and efficient.
For Óscar Fuertes: “We are very excited about this year’s improvements. Not only have we made a lot of progress in the sustainability section, but this year we will be more competitive than ever.”
At the end of the competition and as in previous years, the Astara Team will measure, report and offset the carbon footprint of the entire team. Direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions will be analyzed, as well as other indirect emissions generated by third parties involved in the team’s participation. In this 2024 edition, with the aim of further reducing the footprint of participation, the team will also use fuels of renewable origin in all its assistance and support vehicles.
This is the 46th edition of the Dakar Rally and the fifth to be held in Saudi Arabia, between January 5 and January 19, 2024, and which will cross the northwest of the country through 5,000 kilometers of route with large sections of dunes from Al-Ula to Yanbu, on the shores of the Red Sea.
Synthetic fuel is completely carbon neutral: its environmental impact is zero. The CO2 that is emitted into the atmosphere during its combustion is the same that has been extracted from the air during the production process. In addition, it does not emit solid waste or microparticles. Its production is based on obtaining synthesis gas – through the use of renewable energy – which is subjected to successive chemical transformation processes that result in an ecological liquid hydrocarbon that is easy to use, store and transport. The energy efficiency of synthetic fuel is 12% higher than that of gasoline.
![Astara Team](https://www.eltiempo.com/files/article_content_new/uploads/2023/12/05/656f891c03721.jpeg)
More news in EL TIEMPO
#Astara #Team #dreams #making #history #Dakar #competitive