Not only the Canary Islands will be present, with two teams, in the Dakar which begins this Saturday at Sea Camp in Yanbu, north of Jeddah, the capital of Saudi Arabia, but will also be attended by those fighting breast cancer. through the Canarian Foundation Race for the Vinea, the gran canary Raphael Lemes and the Tenerife Edward Navalwithin the CD CUP 59 MotorSport team, will try to carry the message of solidarity through the dunes and Arabian deserts, if possible to the finish line of Dammam on January 15, if they are able to avoid the traps that await them in the 8,549 kilometers of the world’s largest event of motoring and adventure.
“At least we are going to be cautious and try to reach the first rest day, on January 9,” says Lemes shortly before leaving yesterday for the big test, after a stopover in Madrid. “Our goal is not to win, but to arrive and try to make Dakar fans aware of how important prevention is in the fight against breast cancer.”
Rafael Lemes, as a pilot, and Eduardo Naval, as a sailor, will participate with the number 338 in a Buggy Cam Am within the T3 category (light prototypes made by a specialized trainer), while the other Canarian team, Pedro Peñate and Rosa Moreno (427) will do so in T4 (series prototypes). “The buggy is brutal, it has a suspension that eats everything and it is not a black leg”, says Lemes of the vehicle that they have already tested in Morocco.
Both Lemes and Naval have extensive experience in the motor and adventure world. The man from Gran Canaria has participated twice in the Dakar, in the 2004 and 2007 editions, and returns after leaving the African continent in 2008 due to a threat of an attack by Al Qaeda, passing the test for ten years (2009 to 2019) in South America . “I didn’t have the money to continue, but it didn’t attract my attention either, because it was more of a test similar to a World Rally Championship than the Paris-Dakar,” says Lemes, who is now back because “Arabia is more adventure, less control, and because I have a noble cause to defend.” He has also participated in the Pharaohs Rally and in 1992 was a participant in the Camel Trophy in Guyana.
Nor is Eduardo Naval far behind, the first canary to finish, on a motorcycle (2005) and by car (2007), the Paris-Dakar. Naval has brought the colors of the Canary Islands flag to the Dakar on up to seven occasions, three of them on a motorcycle, one on a quad and three more on the four wheels of an all-terrain car. Apart from the Dakar, the track record is long in off-road events; from the Rallye de Egipto to Baja España Aragón, without forgetting his numerous participations in the National Gravel Rally Championship races.
“Being an ambassador for this prevention message makes me immensely happy. I am very honored to be the ambassador of the Canarian Carrera por la Vida Foundation and of all of Think Pink Europe, with whom I have been collaborating for a long time with Brigitte Gypen. I have taken a step of social responsibility by providing the equipment to the Carrera por la Vida Canary Foundation, welcoming it in an incredible way as a project for all of Europe. This is something that I feel very honored because of how important it is.”
“The Dakar has changed a lot from my last participation to this one. It’s been almost 15 years without participating and everything has evolved a lot. We were doing a few days of training in Morocco and both I and my co-driver, Eduardo Naval, were surprised. There is no longer a printed road book, but everything is done through a tablet and inside is everything you need. It is something amazing and amazing because it is millimeter”.
Apart from Carrera por la Vida, the Lemes and Naval Buggy will be sponsored by Acaloe, a Canarian aloe vera company owned by Rafael Lemes himself, the Adeje City Council and the AMTC (Association of Canary Islands Tourist Municipalities). “Adolfo Alonso has been great with us”, comments the pilot and team leader.
