Nissan Based Classic Dakar Entries...

Lets face it…Nissan has always been an “also ran” in the Dakar…coming close a few times but never taking the top spot in the world’s best endurance race. That said…with the opening of the Dakar Classic category the last few years it has brought out some cool vehicles from mothballs and I like to track them and see pictures of them. So here with the official release of the Dakar ‘23 entry lists we can see what we have for this edition. They’ll be up against the usual range of Mitsubishi Pajeros, Landcruisers, Fiat Pandas, Rothsport Porsches, etc. but are represented in surprisingly good numbers with many coming from the Italian firm of Tecnosport who is sending a whole range of Nissans over for the Dakar Classic as you can see in the car hauler picture at the bottom…So without further delay, here are your Nissan based Dakar Classic entries for 2023 and a few photos of the vehicles.

• Team # 722 Nissan Pathfinder Valentina Casella

• Team #729 Nissan Patrol GR Y61 Gian Paolo Tobia Cavagna

• Team #748 Nissan Patrol K260 Luis Pedrals Marot

• Team #749 Nissan Patrol GR Y60 Radek Vavra

• Team #750 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Urbano Alfonso Gherardo Clerici

• Team #754 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Francisco Javier Benavente

• Team #757 Nissan Patrol Y60 Jean-Christophe Moine

• Team #767 Nissan Terrano 2 (Pathfinder) Dutschler Gian Enrico

• Team #773 Nissan Patrol 260 Asier Duarte Rodriguez

• Team #790 Nissan Terrano 2 (Pathfinder) Garosci Riccardo

• Team #792 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Lorenzo Piolini

• Team #796 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder)

• Team #806 Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) Peter Schey

Classic and other Nissans at Dakar 2022

Well…another year, another post on this topic. I thought I might have exited this space a bit due to recent events but we can get to that some time in the future. For now it appears I’ll still be tied to the Nissan offroad racing community in one fashion or another. So off we go.

2022 appears to be a bit better than 2021 with a number of decent entries in the primary class of “cars” but also sees a huge influx of Dakar entries in the “Classic” class as well…so at least we have a bunch of teams to follow and pictures to see even if the results won’t be at the top of the standings.

So off we go…First up are those Nissans in the “car” class and running against the big boys of the sport. Here we have:

#291 Nissan Patrol of Ibrahim Almuhna

#280 Nissan Proto of Jose Manuel Salinero

#272 Nissan Patrol of Silvio Totani

#267 Nissan Navara of Jurgen Schroeder (who was replaced by his son Daniel Schroeder due to Covid)

#265 Nissan Navara of Markus Walcher

Nissans running in the "Classic” class are as follows:

#719 Nissan Terrano of Maurizio Traglio

#751 Nissan Terrano of Francisco Javier Benavente

#753 Nissan Patrol of Michel Blanc

#759 Nissan Terrano of Luciano Carcheri

#761 Nissan Patrol of Gian Paolo Tobia Cavagna

#767 Nissan Terrano of Giacomo Clerici

#770 Nissan Patrol of Guido Dallarosa

#795 Nissan Patrol of Eje Elgh

#806 Nissan Patrol of Luis Pedrals Marot

#819 Nissan Patrol of Noemi Rodriguez Moreno

#828 Nissan Patrol of Francesc Termens

Classic Nissans at the 2021 Dakar--Results!

So with no “real” Nissans in the 2021 Dakar, all we were left with was those entered in the Classic category which did not face the full brunt of the Dakar and while not easy by any means was a bit disappointing. When Chinese manufacturers field more than a dozen entrants and Nissan not a one? There is trouble abrewing…

Still, seeing these old gals out and playing was good and represents a time when Nissan was putting forth its best efforts. Now? The flag is left to be flown by privateer efforts like Redlined Motorsport out of South Africa who did not enter vehicles this year largely due to Covid…Hopefully they will be back in ‘22.

So what did we end up with in the Classic category?

Well, the first and only Classic category vehicle to drop out was the Mercedes G320 (Gwagon) of Carlos Sanchez on Stage 10…so at least all the Nissans made it to the end, right?

Finishing positions?

Well, there were 24 starters overall, 23 finished the Classic Dakar course.

Francisco Benavente of Spain in his Nissan Terrano (Pathfinder) finished in 18th overall with a high of a third place finish on Stage 5.

Luciano Carcheri of Italy and his Nissan Patrol were extraordinarily consistent in their finishing—never higher than 7th in their stage finishes but also never lower than 16th. They finished an excellent 7th overall.

Annnnd…that’s it. The whole kit and kaboodle of Nissans in this year’s Dakar. A few nice shots came out of it of the Nissans racing but…kinda few and far between. Here’s to a great 2021 in hopes that Redlined continues to build their customer base and we get some more Nissan racing efforts that aren’t watered down, spec, Sentra racing on tarmac…please Nissan…give me a break…

Till then? Some of us will soldier on…