DAKAR RALLY: Fantic’s expanded team for 2025 Dakar

Words and images courtesy Fantic & ASO

For the fourth consecutive year, Fantic takes on the ultimate challenge of the Dakar Rally, the world’s most captivating and challenging rally raid!

The Fantic Factory Rally Team is led by Dakar legend Franco Picco and Project Manager Matilde Tomagnini. It fields Sandra Gomez alongside Tommaso Montanari and Jeremy Miroir.

As the only Italian manufacturer in the competition, with three works riders, Fantic is fielding seven XEF 450 Rally bikes. Additionally, a group of ‘works assisted’ riders participate in the 47th Dakar, the world’s most prestigious rally raid event, to mark the start of the 2025 season.

Dakar Rally – Matilde Tomagnini

Matilde Tomagnini, Fantic Rally Raid Project Manager, said: “We are proud to be at the start as the only Italian manufacturer committed to the Dakar. It is the toughest off-road race in the world and synonymous with vehicle reliability. We are heading into the rally with a fantastic team. The bike is the Fantic XEF 450 Rally, an evolution compared to 2024. As for the riders, in addition to the confirmed Montanari and Miroir, we are thrilled to welcome Sandra Gomez, a rider who is both tough, determined and fast.

After winning the female category in the 2024 Dakar with Jane Daniels, who was also awarded the ‘Dakar Spirit’ prize, we decided to continue supporting women in 2025, and I am confident Sandra can deliver great results. Both Jeremy and Sandra have trained hard, while Tommaso has only just got back on the bike following a crash at the Rallye du Maroc in early October.

“We line up at the start of Dakar 2025 with no less than seven Fantic XEF 450 Rally machines, as we have a programme for ‘satellite riders’ who will enjoy Fantic support. A major new initiative this year is the Fantic Rally Raid project. Designed to make the great rally raid adventures accessible to a wider audience while showcasing our Fantic XEF 450 Rally and enhancing brand visibility in various markets, the programme has already enjoyed significant success.

“As our efforts have doubled, we have also increased the number of technicians and mechanics. We are proud to have experienced riders of six different nationalities. Tommaso Montanari will be flying the flag for Italy, from France we have Miroir and Pouponnot, Sandra Gomez from Spain, Tomas de Gavardo from Chile, Al Balooshi from the Emirates and Rafic Eid Bassam from Lebanon. The goal is to bring all the riders to the finish line and improve on last year’s results.

“At the bivouac, all riders will benefit from Fantic’s support and technical assistance. I would like to thank Mariano Roman, our Head of Racing, and everyone at the company for their trust. I feel the responsibility, but with such a fantastic team, I can’t wait to line up for the 47th edition of the Dakar.”

Advent of 2025!

It’s the event that opens the year of motorsport, and with the advent of 2025, the great Dakar organizational machine is getting ready to go.

As in the last five editions, this one takes place entirely in Saudi Arabia.

It is scheduled to start on Friday, January 3, with the prologue in Bisha. It finishes two weeks later, on January 17, in Shubaytah, in the east of the country.

In total, riders will cover nearly 8,000 kilometres in the desert, more than 5,000 of which are timed special stages.

After recovering the vehicles at the port of Jeddah on December 30, the teams travelled to Bisha. This is the base camp of Dakar 2025 where technical and administrative checks have taken place. The shake down also occurs here, to get everything set for the great adventure.

Dakar Rally – Tommaso Montanari

Tommaso Montanari, from Terni, who is racing in his third Dakar, said: “I am really happy to be here and I already feel the adrenaline of the race. I have been working hard to get back on the bike as being at the start was not exactly a given. I’m still not 100 percent after the bad crash I had at the Rallye du Maroc, but I’m excited. It will be important to have a smart first week to understand how hard I can push.”

Jeremy Miroir finished 31st overall and 19th in Rally2 in his Dakar debut in 2024. He also won the Dakar fair play award and ranked as the third-best rookie.

He said: “This is my second Dakar with Fantic and I look forward to start. I have been training a lot. I did several races in France and the Rallye du Maroc with the whole Fantic team. It has been a good preparation and I’m sure it will pay off because we have very long and very hard stages ahead of us from the first week. Last year everything was new, this year I can count on more experience built on the field. The goal is to finish and improve my result.”

Dakar Rally – Sandra Gomaz

Sandra Gomez, a World Champion in Trial, SuperEnduro, and E-Xplorer, has extensive experience also in Hard Enduro. Significantly, she was the first woman to finish the Red Bull Romaniacs!

After completing her Dakar debut in 2022 and participating again in 2023, the Spanish rider returns for her third Dakar. She is determined to improve on her previous performances and aim for the win in her category.

She said: “New year, new team, new bike. This is my third Dakar, I carry the experience with me and I think it is essential for this extraordinary adventure that has no equal. It is true that I have done a lot of enduro, hard enduro, and everything helps, but the Dakar requires respect. The goal is to take it one day at a time and get to the end.”

Fantic-Supported Riders.

Alongside the three Fantic Factory Rally riders, are four Fantic-supported riders and leading this group is Mohammed Al Balooshi.

A multiple motocross champion with vast experience in Rally Raid, who will compete in the Rally GP category.

Al Balooshi, the first Emirati to race in the Dakar in 2012, will line up for his seventh Dakar on a Fantic XEF 450 Rally.

Also joining the team is Tomas De Gavardo, son of the Chilean rider Carlo De Gavardo. Carlo finished 3rd in the 2001 Dakar.

Tomas will be racing his third Dakar aboard the Fantic XEF 450 Rally.

After an impressive 33rd place finish in Rally2 in 2023, and 25th in his category in 2024, Tomas is motivated and confident. This confidence is boosted by his experience racing in Morocco with Fantic.

Joining Al Balooshi and De Gavardo are Lebanese rider Rafic Eid Bassam, the second-place finisher in the FIM Baja Veterans World Championship. Additionally, Frenchman Maxime Pouponnot is part of the team.

Fantic Factory Rally Team for the Dakar Rally

Jérémy Miroir

Born on 05/04/1994, France
Height: 1.84m
Weight: 75kg
Hobbies: VTT, cycling, squash, tennis
Sponsors:Borde Champignons, Arverne Flux Energies, Champagne Lhuillier, L’atelier 46, Bonneton 2 roues
Dakar race number: 31

Fast facts!

• Auvergne is the cradle of enduro in France, and the birthplace of Jérémy Miroir. He was trained on motorbikes by his father Jean-Luc, a former rider and organiser in the Dakar teams. The young “Miroy”, his father’s nickname, started competing at the age of 17.

• The French champion (E2) in 2021 became a key figure in great enduro classics (Trèfle Lozérien, Rand’Auvergne, etc.). He decided to move towards rally-raid, with his first conclusive experiences in the Italian Rally TT Championship and the Baja Aragon (7th). He confirmed his good intentions by winning Rally 3 on the Andalucia Rally 2022. Later, he secured a Top 10 Rally 2 in Morocco the following year.

• His first Dakar was on a Fantic. The Italian firm led by former champion Franco Picco was also making its debut on the rally. The bike needed to be developed, and he needed to continue training. The brand’s best rider, Jérémy distinguished himself by finishing 31st and 3rd rookie. Enough to strengthen his position in the team, and earn a ticket for the 2025 edition.

Dakar Rally 2025 ambitions

“Being a driver has always been my dream since I was 5 years old and I gave myself the means. Being part of an official team is a luxury and I must thank Fantic. Of course, I had obtained good results in enduro, but I had everything to prove in rally-raid when they contacted me.

They needed young people to develop the bike and it was a good fit. After the Dakar 2024, I had a great time doing enduro races in France, which allowed us to show off our new bikes. The rally-raid project is moving forward, there were about ten Fantics at the Rallye du Maroc.

I am approaching this second Dakar a little differently: the first is always scary because it is the toughest off-road race in the world. We know it is long, a lot can happen. We are going there to put Fantic forward, with the aim of bringing the three official bikes to the finish because it is important to gain experience. As a competitor, I obviously want to do the best I can. But what I want most is to go all the way and for the adventure to continue. This is just the beginning, we are working on the bike and we have to do things according to the stages of the project.

Everything in its own time! “

Tommaso Montanari

Born on 14/08/1991, Italy
Height:1.8m
Weight: 83kg
Hobbies:Stay with my friends
Sponsors: Fantic Motor, Leghe, Leggere lavorate, Begliomini, Motoclub AMX, Edil iama, immobiliare ianni, tabaccheria dello stadio, Corradini, DBS, Medical srl, Appkeep, kkm, LSMed, Farmacia semplice.it, 3D Graphics, go big shop, FM caffè service
Race number 36

Fast Facts!

Tommaso Montanari, from Terni in Italy, shares the same hometown as Danilo Petrucci (who is doing Dakar 2025 as a codriver in truck class). He started with minicross at the regional and national level before stepping up to enduro and motorally.
Over his career, he has become a three-time Italian Enduro Champion, three-time Italian Motorally Champion, and the 2018 European Enduro Champion.
After announcing his dream to race the Dakar in November 2022, 40 years after his father Mario, owner of a historic motorcycle shop in Terni. He had to retire on the second day due to a crash, breaking his leg. He returned to racing in May 2023 and competed in the Rallye du Maroc, finishing 16th overall and 5th in Rally 2. However, he had to retire again in 2024.
For Dakar 2025, his goal is to earn the finisher’s medal after technical and physical challenges in previous editions. He remains an official Fantic rider for this edition.

Dakar Rally 2025 ambitions

T.M.: “My Dakar 2024 went quite well. I was happy with my race pace, even managing to secure a Top 15 in one stage. Unfortunately, a small technical issue prevented me from finishing the race. This year, in addition to preparing for the Dakar, I trained for the national rally championship and the Rallye du Maroc. However, in Morocco, I was forced to withdraw on the second day due to a bad fall, which impacted my preparation for Dakar 2025. For this Dakar, my goal is to finally earn the finisher’s medal, as I don’t have it yet. Regarding the team and the bike, I’m once again the official Fantic rider, so it’s the same team and bike.”

Sandra Gómez Cantero

Born on 23/01/1993, Spain
Height: 1.7m
Weight: 62kg
Hobbies: Skiing, biking, climbing
Sponsors: Fantic Motor, Mitas, Comunidad de Madrid, Clínicas de Medicina Cres, Iberfurgo, Leatt, Zonapaddock, 24MX, Acerbis, Reyes fisioterapia, Nutritape, FM Parts, Donjoy, Rotu Racing, Cercedilla, RFME
Dakar race number: 100

Fast facts!

• Sandra Gómez has made history as a pioneer in hard enduro. She started in trials, where she achieved the world championship runner-up position (2016 and 2018). In 2013, at the XGames in Barcelona, she made her debut in enduro with a bronze. She then moved on to hard enduro, a specialty in which she learned alongside one of the best in the world, her brother, Alfredo Gómez. In 2016 she was the Superenduro World Champion and won several medals at the XGames. She was the first woman to finish the Redbull Romaniacs in the top category (Gold), the first woman to start from the front row at the Redbull Erzberg Rodeo, and the first Spanish AMA Endurocross champion in 2015.

• Due to the need to obtain resources to live as a professional pilot, Sandra had to do different jobs in the past combined with that of a pilot. Notably, her role as a ‘Stunt Rider’ in the filming of the world-famous series ‘La Casa de Papel’ and ‘Sky Rojo’.

• She is the coordinator of the Women’s Commission of the Royal Spanish Motorcycle Federation (RFME), which works to promote motorcycling among girls and encourage its pilots to reach the top. Since last year, she has been a member of the FIM Women’s Commission. The Madrid native offers courses in various modalities. Additionally, she brings motorcycling to schools through talks by professional women in motorcycling. She is promoting a project that brings schools to the paddock of races. This is so that girls can see that they can pursue various professions in motorcycling. These include roles as mechanics, engineers or journalists, not just pilots.

• Sandra always dreamed of going to the Dakar and she achieved it in 2022, with the help of her great friend, the pilot Lorenzo Santolino. She achieved her goal of reaching the finish line and returned in the Dakar 2023 after overcoming mononucleosis, an illness that forced her to stop for several months. However, a breakdown in her motorcycle in stage 6 left her without arriving in time to take the start of the special and forced her to retire.

Dakar Rally 2025 ambitions

“In 2024 I missed the Dakar due to a lack of budget. That is the hardest part of going to the Dakar. I was fighting all year to find support, but I couldn’t. I compete in other races and I couldn’t stand still. I am a professional rider, I am not an amateur who wants to go to the Dakar, so I continued with the Hard Enduro. And luckily, this year Fantic called me to go with them. Being a factory rider allows me to

concentrate more on training and performance. The goal in the Dakar 2025 is to finish, and then, try to win the women’s general classification. I want to be competitive again. I have greater responsibility as a factory rider, but I also have greater motivation.”

“Fantic went to the Dakar last year with Jane Daniels and this year she is pregnant, so Fantic wanted to continue with a girl in its team, a very good project by a factory, since it is the only official firm that takes a girl to the Dakar. I replaced Jane at the Rally of Morocco and now at the Dakar. Being an official driver means that I have been able to focus more on training, also on looking for sponsorship, but in a much more relaxed way, as I have not had to organise the entire rally and logistics as I did before. It is another level.”

For more Racing News, head to SuperBike Magazine – Racing Category !