For many years of her life, Laia Sanz has spent her summers racing. Being a fourteen-time world champion and ten-time European champion means training a lot and having few holidays. “I was doing something I really liked and I didn't feel like it was a sacrifice or that I was missing out on anything,” assures the rider, who as she has slowed down a bit, focusing more on the Dakar rally – which is held in January – has been able to make a little more of the summer days to “join family and friends’ plans”.

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.