Humble, hardworking and fighter. Gerard Farres, along with his co-pilot, Diego Ortega, have finished the Dakar 2022 by climbing to the second step of the podium in the T4 category of SidebySide light vehicles of this edition of Dakar. A podium that he also achieved in motorcycles with the Himoinsa team (3rd in 2017) and a second place with the Monster Energy Can-Am team (already in SSV) in 2019.
The Catalan driver arrived at the toughest competition in the world without knowing, months before, if he would participate or not and once he did, he landed in the ‘Dakar’ dunes without having tested the car. But that was not an impediment. In the penultimate stage of the competition, ‘Farreti’ and Ortega became leaders of the category and already in the last stage, despite having been eligible for ‘gold’, they resigned for following team orders, giving victory to their teammate and also leader of ranks in the South Racing Can Am Factorythe American Austin Jones. We chat with Gerard after his podium finish at the 2022 Dakar.
What is your summary of the Dakar 2022? How do you rate this Dakar?
“I am very happy to be here and to have lived everything that the Dakar is. Just the fact of being able to start on the starting podium was already something gratifying and from then on everything turns out well for you. With Diego, my co-driver, it’s the first race we’ve done together and we couldn’t train, we started little by little, with more and more rhythm. The team did a great job and the car ran very well, without any problems. In the end, our goal was to work for our partner, as a ‘gregarious’ in cycling. Two of our teammates crashed at the start, they fell off the leaderboard so we’re now focused on helping Austin. And the fact that he did well, was always in the front meant that we could also be in the front and in the end you find yourself leading the race in the last stage. Finally, we came second, behind Austin, who was the target so much better than he expected.”
How was the adventure with Diego?
“Very well, for me the values of people are very important and with Diego it has been incredible because we share values of humility, work, respect. In a car there must be maximum respect, very fluid communication and speaking in the plural, the driver does not win and the co-driver loses, we both win or we both lose and we have understood this from minute one. It has been key to being able to work well. We have cried together because Diego has won his first stage in the Dakar and has done this year, by my side.”
Starting from the beginning of the competition and going back to the fact that months before you didn’t know if you were going to participate, what happened? How was the process?
“It’s like a movie,” he laughs. “In September, the team told me straight up that they saw it as tough, and I asked if I could make a call to Austin Jones’s father. So I called him up and asked him what he thought if he helped his ‘backpacking’ son. He was interested, he told me yes and that he would talk to the team. And so it was.”
Last stage, 1’41” ahead of your teammate, Austin Jones. Finally finish first and your second. What exactly happened?
“It was very easy, the team told us that we had to obey orders and stop for 5 minutes. That’s what we did, we stopped a few meters from the finish line, for those 5 minutes that the team asked us to, and then we crossed the finish line. I remember the moment of crossing it with Diego crying. It was really important for us to be on the podium, within ourselves We knew we could have won the Dakar but, for us, this commitment to the team and this professionalism was more important.”
Somehow, you have won, you added that title in T4. How was the arrival at the Barcelona airport shouting ‘champion’?
“Very beautiful, I have very beautiful people by my side. I think it already comes from motorcycles because in life nobody has given us anything. It comes from the fact that we have grown very little by little, with the help of people. They know that we are very hard-working, humble. In the end, we love this work, it’s all passionate. For us it is a pride that friends and fans come to receive you in this way.”
Tribute at home, in Manlleu, this Sunday. What do you think?
“In the end, the Dakar is a race that many people know about, not only motor people, but more and more people are talking about the Dakar and I meet neighbors, 70-80 years old, who tell me: “Gerard, why did you stop? And everyone has their movie why and it’s nice to be able to talk with them. Especially talking to the children, I love being with the children, talking to them about the values that the Dakar has given me. Not so much to win, but all the values that this competition gives you, for example, teamwork. Solidarity when it was in Africa.”
Has the Dakar changed you, on a personal level, in terms of values?
“Yes, the first time I went, it was in Africa and that’s where my life changed, the perception of things changed. That is why every year I need to return to Africa, to Morocco, to enjoy its people, its culture, its values because you realise, without wanting to, that here, because of how society is, a lot of importance is given, sometimes, to a phone. Probably just to work but, to a phone, to a car, to the material. In Africa it’s all the other way around, nobody has anything, I’m talking about Morocco, for example, where children play with balls of paper, you give them anything and they don’t keep it for themselves, they share it with their family.”
It is not your first Dakar, far from it, you have many hours in the desert. Do you always face the Dakar the same or is it different for you every year?
“It depends on the year. He did not expect a podium because he was going to work for the team, so that they made a result. Therefore, each year it changes depending on what job you have. The Dakar is unpredictable, sometimes you go all out to win, you have a mechanical problem and this function changes. This year it has been the other way around, going ‘gregarious’ and ending up fighting for victory.”
Then… Will we see you again next year at the Dakar?
“Yes, well, now I say yes” -he laughs- “because the team, after doing this job, assured me that I could return to the Dakar. I have been with Can-AM Factory South Racing for 4 years, with Scott Abraham, I owe a lot to them and hopefully, as they have told me, we can come back and enjoy this great race.”
What you can assure us is that you want
“Yes, I feel like it, but not on motorcycles. With the motorcycle, after 11 years on the Dakar and many injuries and losing teammates in this race… there was a point that I didn’t enjoy, I suffered, I wasn’t afraid but, Yes, respect. It is a race that does not forgive on the motorcycle. In cars it is different, there is more security, of course you can hurt yourself but, I do not suffer so much for hurting us and this is also important when you are of an age, family and have made me suffer a lot. So, in this sense, it gives me confidence to return”
From what you tell us, if you had to choose between motorcycles or cars…
“The motorcycle, first of all, is more passionate, it is more you, it is the fight of a man with everything because, I remember in South America, people came to see us and said: “You are like a bullfighter, you risk your life “And it’s true, anyone who rides a motorcycle risks their life. And this is what makes it special. I have a motto that says: ‘Victory is to improve yourself’ and in the Dakar it’s like this all the time, you’re going to fall , you’re going to hurt yourself, all this happens to you in the Dakar and you have to overcome it.”
“I remember an anecdote in my first Dakar with Marc Coma when I told him: “Marc, let’s enjoy it” and he told me: “No, ‘Farreti’, no. You will never enjoy this Dakar.” And it really is. And I’m coming back because, when you’ve suffered and you manage to finish the race, that feeling… there’s something that pushes you to come back. But, with the bike it’s very hard. cars is more teamwork, with a co-driver, decisions are more shared and there is more safety.”
When you are just at the moment of taking the exit, what goes through your head? What are you thinking about?
“We tried to fool our minds a lot and not think about what was outside, not to think, for example, in the last few days that there were team orders even though we could win, not to think that in Spain everyone was discussing what we was going on. It’s not the same when it’s the special, that is, there we don’t think, we act. On the other hand, in liaison, when it ends and they tell you 500 km of liaison, there your head relaxes and there we have cried because your tension goes down and at that moment you don’t have to fight against these feelings.”
Therefore, they are those moments in which you can ‘disconnect’
“Yes, there has to be a time to serve, many thoughts come to you about all the effort and sacrifice we have made to be there. In the end you want to think in a way, but the feelings are there. And in this moment, of relaxation, I don’t fight against feelings. I speak in a link, ‘bivouac’, at a specific moment.”
You have incredible and very characteristic values, passion, strength, humility… What do you think are the ingredients to participate in the Dakar?
“The most important ingredients are the passionate, that you do it because you have passion, the psychological, that you are psychologically well prepared, overcoming, knowing that you are going to fight against everything and lastly, do not forget to enjoy yourself.”
How far would you like to go on the Dakar?
“I have a dream, I’ve always said it, which is to win a Dakar, but it’s not an obsession and now it’s less so after this edition. It is a result goal that makes all the way you have to do to get there humanly precious, so this winning thing, if I get it right and if I don’t also. We always try to give our best, not only competing but also with our values that are more important than a victory.”
Some project or projects of this season
“I do a lot of things. On a personal level, I have a co-pilot company, I organize events, I am an ambassador for some brands, all this translates into working, meeting people. At a competitive level, wait for the team, I think that between March and April we will be able to know what races we can do and, in anything, prepare for the Dakar with Diego again.”
A dream or an illusion for this year
“When I get in the car, I do one thing, I have been doing it at every stage and I have been doing it for four years, and that is that I ask everyone to be very lucky, that no one gets hurt, that the cars and motorcycles work well and I always do it in the plural. I have never thought only of myself. I also do this on a daily basis, especially when I watch television and see the conflicts that are taking place. I ask for equality for everyone, and peace.”