After racing his first two Dakar Rallies on a KTM 450 Rally, Tomás de Gavardo will assume the saddle of a Fantic XEF 450 Rally as a manufacturing facility rider for Fantic Rally Workforce. He’s the primary South American to affix the marque’s works division as they hope to increase their market on the continent.
Regardless of beginning the race with a chilly, Gavardo completed twenty-fifth in Rally2 on the newest Dakar Rally in January with a greatest run of twenty-third in Stage #9. Driving for BAS World KTM Racing Workforce, it was his second Dakar after a thirty-third in school on the 2023 edition.
Earlier than tackling marathon rallies, Gavardo received the FIM Bajas World Cup’s Junior Trophy champion in 2019. He made his World Rally-Raid Championship début on the 2022 Andalucía Rally, inserting tenth in Rally2 to clinch his 2023 Dakar ticket.
His late father Carlo de Gavardo was the primary Chilean to race the Dakar Rally, ending third in 2001. The youthful Gavardo started his profession in enduro on the age of six, finally happening to be a nationwide champion. He started dabbling in cross-country rallies in 2016, and his racing expertise additionally contains equally legendary occasions just like the 2022 Baja 1000.
Gavardo’s first race with Fantic would be the Rallye du Maroc on 6–11 October.
“We’re a small Italian firm with an enormous ardour for what we do, and we stay up for getting our model identified to much more folks in Chile, South America, and worldwide,” mentioned Fantic enterprise improvement supervisor Matilde Tomagnini. “Devoted and passionate riders like Tomás completely align with this imaginative and prescient.”
Fantic, a staple of the enduro world, fielded three factory bikes on the 2024 Dakar Rally for enduro champions Jane Daniels, Jeremy Miroir, and Tommaso Montanari. Mioir, a former FIM Worldwide Six Days of Enduro winner, completed the most effective of the trio with a nineteenth in Rally2 forward of Daniels’ thirty-third and Montanari’s seventy-eighth. In April, the producer expanded their rally operations by opening the Fantic Rally Raid and Fantic Rally Xperience programmes, the previous lending official assist at W2RC rounds in addition to a manufacturing facility journey for the 2026 Dakar Rally, whereas the latter gives the identical for newbie rallies.
The 2025 Dakar Rally is on 3–17 January.
