DAKAR RALLY: Sherco’s Lorenzo Santolino wins Stage 3 of Dakar Rally
Words and images courtesy ASO
Above Picture; Fresh and raring to go. Santolino at the podium during the Prologue of the Dakar 2025. ASO/J.Delfosse/DPPI
In his seventh Dakar Rally, Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino, has picked up his first stage win since his debut on the rally in 2019 and has brought French manufacturer Sherco its sixth success on the race and its first in Saudi Arabia.
“It was an almost perfect stage for me,” said Santolino. “I attacked in the rocks at the start to catch up with Pablo (Quintanilla) before we reached a fast plateau in a zone with more technical navigation where we rode together. I stayed focused all the time and attacked in front of him in the last hundred kilometres. I felt good on the bike, it was a good stage.”
The stay in Bisha for the 2025 Dakar Rally, which lasted almost a week and included scrutineering, came to a close when the wind stopped blowing!
The Dakar has resumed its nomadic nature, heading northwest towards Al Henakiyah.
The riders, drivers and crews dropped down by about 500metres in altitude and especially had to tackle a beginning to the special that was very rocky, before picking up speed on sandy plateaus for approximately 200 kilometres.
Santolino in action during Stage 3 of the 2025 Dakar Rally between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia. ASO/A.Vincent/DPPI
The heavy rainfall from the day before gave way to sunny intervals which made the terrain more conducive to racing.
It was ideal going for Lorenzo Santolino, who scored his first stage success on the Dakar behind the handlebars of his Sherco.
Lorenzo Santolino has warmed the hearts of Spanish fans with his Stage 3 victory
Perseverance has certainly paid off forSantolino, who has warmed Spanish supporters’ hearts by winning his first stage on after the frustration of three premature exits from the rally in the past.
This time, he rode seamlessly in climbing up the day’s leaderboard, having been the 11ᵗʰ rider to set off, finally beating Ricky Brabec at the finishing line by four minutes.
KTM’s Daniel Sanders still leads the general rankings, but American Skyler Howes has moved to within 6’51’’ of the Australian.
This is Santolino on his Sherco 450 SEF Rally during the Stage 2 of this year’s Dakar. ASO/F.Gooden/DPPI
His Monster Energy Honda HRC team-mate Adrien Van Beveren dropped back to eighth, 16’24’’ behind the leader, due to a fall that shook him up over a certain part of the distance covered.
Santolino’s victory is Sherco’s sixth Dakar stage success on the race and the French brand’s first in Saudi Arabia following those won in South America by four different riders.
In 2010, on the first stage in Cordoba, David Casteu wrote the first line on the constructor’s roll of honour. Joan Pedrero (in 2014 and 2017) and Alain Duclos (in 2014) added three more before Mickael Metge was victorious in 2019 in Pisco.
Five years later, the factory in Nîmes has now completed its collection. David Casteu, who managed the brand’s official team until 2022, and Mickael Metge will be able to congratulate their heir apparent at the bivouac, because the former has enrolled in the bike category to celebrate turning fifty, while the second is the co-pilot of Saudi driver Yasir Seaidan in the Challenger class.
The media love a winner. And in this case so do the Spanish fans – and his Sherco factory team. ASO
Santolino, who currently occupies 10th position in the general rankings, is dreaming of breaking into the top five, which would be the best result enjoyed by Sherco, whose riders have not yet climbed higher than sixth on the Dakar.
Indeed, it was none other than Lorenzo who achieved what is still his personal best as well as that of the family brand made in France.
His Sherco 450 SEF Rally, tuned by Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team, is a four-stroke, single-cylinder 449cc, producing 70bhp and weighs 135kg.
Santolino is Sherco’s greatest asset in recent Dakar Rallies
Santolino has been Sherco’s greatest asset in the recent Dakar Rallies due to his enormous perseverance, talent and development ability. And he is already will continuing to be so in 2025.
He finished sixth in 2021, his best result so far, and 11th in 2022 and in 2023, he was ninth.
In 2024, after a very good sixth place in Stage 1 and a great feeling on the bike, he retired in Stage 2 with a mechanical issue while chasing the top five.
One year later, he is back with the same goal. In the Morocco Rally, he was runner-up in the final stage, a sign of the potential he can show again.
The 2021 edition of the Dakar was his most emotional.
There, after a challenging year due to the health crisis and the death of his mother due to illness, the Guijuelo native dedicated to his mother the feat of reaching the finish line for the first time with a brilliant sixth place result, being the best Spanish rider in the bike category.
He achieved this in an edition in which he auctioned off his racing gear to benefit Pyfano, an association from Salamanca that works with children who have cancer.
He reached the elite thanks to the sacrifice of a humble and hard-working family. His father is a reservoir maintenance professional and his mother worked as a school custodian.
Both had to tighten their belts to pursue their son’s dreams, first by travelling all over Spain with a car with a trailer and a tent, and then with a van so that he could compete in motocross at the national level, with only one motorbike and less material and spare parts than his rivals.
Lorenzo wanted to jump to international competitions and did so, thanks to the national enduro team. He left motocross and changed disciplines to take advantage of this opportunity. He changed again later with his move to rallying with Sherco, with whom he did his first Dakar in 2019.
Pre-race PR pic of Sherco’s Lorenzo Santolino. ASO
Santolino: “If the Rally goes in our favour I know I can be top five…..”
Before this year’s Dakar Rally started, Santolino was in a confident mood and said: “We have improved some settings and electronics on the bike and have worked on the front suspension and the fork. We did a lot of testing in Europe, but Morocco was the acid test to see if everything was OK. The base was good, but we noticed that we had to make some small adjustments in several tests in Morocco in November. The feeling is good because it gives me more comfort, which is positive for the Dakar. I know the bike and how it reacts quite well, and that reassures me and gives me confidence.”
“All the races I did during the year were in Europe on tracks and with less navigation. Morocco was my return to the desert. I had an excellent feeling in the Morocco Rally, with a runner-up result in the final stage, at the pace of the best. For the 2025 Dakar, the goal is to finish in the top five. It’s not easy, but we can get there. If everything goes well, we should be in the Top-10. And if the rally goes a bit in our favour, we can be in the top five. It’s a realistic target.
“Am I dreaming of a podium? Why not? But a lot of things would have to line up. The problem in 2024 was a pity because I think we could have had a good Dakar. I’m looking forward to this year being mine, that everything goes my way and that I can make the most of the Dakar.”
Having now won Stage 3 of this year’s Rally, who knows what confidence boost that might give Santolino to spur him on to even greater heights?
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