It is now definitive: the 2027 Dakar will take place. After many weeks of doubts, which had jeopardized the organization of the toughest rally on the planet, a solution has finally been reached. As ARA has learned, the event will change its venue and will be held between Europe and Africa, thus moving away from Saudi Arabia.

Being able to participate in the Dakar Rally is the dream of many motor sports fans. In the Pedró household, father and son have achieved it. If Josep the father did the longest Dakar of all time crossing Africa from end to end in 1992, Josep the son (Barcelona, 1987) has already completed three editions in Saudi Arabia. In the last one, he was second in the toughest motorcycle category, the original by Motul', in which one participates without assistance. Now he is preparing for the next edition, but he does so with anxiety, denouncing that it seems impossible to hold the race in Saudi Arabia, since the conflict in Yemen and the Persian Gulf do not allow for guaranteed safety, with drones attacking Saudi territory on a regular basis.

In January 1982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had a host of headaches. The intelligence services were warning her that the Argentine military junta was likely preparing an invasion of the Falkland Islands, demonstrations were taking place against her decision to raise taxes, and her son had disappeared. On January 13, 1982, before giving a speech to the National Federation of Self-Employed Workers, Thatcher even lost her balance, visibly shaken. iron lady It seemed on the verge of collapse, as her son, Mark Thatcher, had been missing for five days in one of the most inhospitable places on the planet: the Sahara Desert.

A few days ago, the 300 workers at the Ebro Free Trade Zone factory gathered to say goodbye to Laia Sanz (Corbera de Llobregat, 1985). The Catalan driver is heading to Saudi Arabia to prepare for her sixteenth Dakar Rally, the world's most demanding rally. This year's edition will be unlike any other. For the first time, Sanz will be able to compete in the top car category, the T1+, as she will be driving a top-level vehicle prepared by Ebro. Sanz's enthusiasm is shared by the brand, founded in Barcelona in 1954, which for decades manufactured tractors, trucks, and vans. It then faded away, nearly disappearing, but has been reborn by making cars, and now, with this leap into competition, with the Ebro S800 XRR, produced at the plant inaugurated a year ago.

Age is just a number for Edgar Canet (La Garriga, 2005). "On the bike, I don't think about being the youngest; it doesn't impress or intimidate me. Being the youngest or the oldest makes no difference: we all do the same route," Canet told ARA during the presentation for the 2026 Dakar Rally.

In just over a year and a half of existence, the new Ebro brand has already achieved several impressive industrial and commercial milestones, with a portfolio of three models called the S700, S800, and the brand-new S400. With hybrid and plug-in hybrid engines, it also has an increasingly well-coordinated sales and after-sales service network that now includes more than 60 dealerships and authorized service centers in Spain alone.