The story of Cristina Gutierrez is as special as it is unique, and in addition to being one of the references in Spanish motorsport, she will become one of the three drivers who will be in the new Dacia project for the Dakar Rally in 2025. The driver from Burgos will make the leap from the Challenger category to the Ultimate with the aim of making the manufacturer a winner, and will have in the same team with two motoring legends such as Sebastien Loeb and Nasser Al=Attiyah.
Motorsport.com was with her during the world's toughest race in Saudi Arabia, and she talked about what it meant for her to move to the elite, sharing a team with the Frenchman and the Qatari, women in competition and much more.
Q: Looking ahead to 2025, you will be with Dacia, how do you see the project and how do you approach it?
A: Dacia [I am] very excited about it. I think it will be from March when the tests start in France and then in Morocco, and shortly after that we will have the first official race, which will be in Morocco in October, so I am very happy, because I will be with great drivers like Nasser [Al-Attiyah] and Seb [Loeb]. I'm going to enjoy myself, I'm going to learn, and I'm looking forward to giving my all with them.
Q: That's what I wanted to talk about, the drivers, what is it like to share a team with legends like Sebastien Loeb and Nasser Al-Attiyah?
The first time they told me about the project, they told me about Seb, and it was already incredible, because I had the opportunity to work with him in Extreme E, and I spent two amazing years with him. He is a very open driver, and when he has to explain something to you, he doesn't keep anything to himself, he is very kind to me, we get along very well, and he is very attentive to my steps and what I do, so I can consider him as a sports father.
Months went by and they told us that there would be a third driver, among the best. They didn't tell me which one, but when they told me it was going to be Al-Attiyah, it was like, 'Really?' and I felt like the ham in the sandwich between the two great drivers. They are the two best drivers on the grid right now, and to have them in the same team, I think it's incredible.
Q: Dacia is a winning project. Do you see Cristina Gutierrez winning the Dakar Rally?
A: Winning the Dakar is a very, very big word, because there are great drivers like Seb, who have been trying for eight years and still haven't managed it, but it's true that one dreams big, and I have to dream realistically. The first year we will have to see how it goes, it is a long-term project, so it gives me the peace of mind of not having to bang my head against the table, but what I am going to do is to go out to enjoy, to give everything and see what results can come out, but I think we can be there because it is a 100% leading car.
Q: Next year Audi will not be there, do you see Carlos Sainz competing in the Dakar Rally with another team?
A: I see Carlos [Sainz] as incombustible, I see him, in some way or another, involved in the Dakar, because it is part of his life, and if not competing, as team manager or influencing in some direct way the preparation of another car, but he is a person who is 100% competitive, who works 100% of his time and I hope he continues to compete.
Q: One of the things I've noticed is that you wear a fully customized and personalized racing suit, with proportions for your body, which are usually different from those of a driver. What is that relationship with Sparco like and what products would you highlight from them?
A: We have been working with Sparco during the whole Junior Team project [of Red Bull], because they have an agreement with them, and the truth is that I am very happy, because the racing suits are tailor-made. Every year, they are always evolving the type of fabric, the clothing, with thin materials and other stronger ones, and above all, the underwear is very thin, which is great for the heat.
They have also developed boots that, for us riders, are incredible, because we have to have a lot of foot contact with the accelerator and the brake, to have feeling, and they have made boots like socks, so they are very close to the leg. No sand gets in, it's very comfortable, and I remember that before everything got in, so you had a sand block.
It is true that they listen to us a lot when they tell us that they want to develop a better product, they are always very open, and practically all the top riders are there nowadays.
Q: Motor racing is a male-dominated sport in terms of numbers, and Cristina Gutierrez is one of the female representatives. Do you see it as a responsibility to be one of the visible faces of a movement?
A: I don't know if I feel that way, I think we are all responsible for how society is evolving in that sense, and I think it is important that there are female figures coming out to fight on equal terms. It is a sport that is unequaled in the sense of equality, there are very few sports in which we compete in the same category, both men and women, and we must give value to this sport because it allows us to do so.
It is important to give that visibility to make other women see that they are not afraid to try, or that it looks strange that a woman enters, because I remember that at the beginning, when I arrived, there were female figures at that time, and they treated me like, 'look at the girl, how nice', and now it is like something more normal, you see more girls in all kinds of disciplines, pilots, co-drivers, engineers, mechanics, logistics, everything.
It is seen as more normal, and the most important thing is that, for future generations, when they have to doubt whether to do it, they should not doubt whether they can achieve it.
Q: If it were up to Cristina Gutierrez, as if she were a kind of president, what would you do to improve and get more women interested in motorsport?
A: It helped me a lot, and it is helping me a lot, for example, when I was 25 years old or so, I was competing in the Spanish championship, and it was like a kind of women's campus, which doesn't have to be, but that edition was, and it gave us the opportunity to experience the world of motorsport in a more professional way. Very important figures were teaching, like Jutta or Patricia Pons, so I saw it as achievable, and I think that helped me a lot to trust me and make the leap to the Dakar.
I also think that some things are being done in Spain, which is something that we should value, as a campus that Pelarda organizes with the Spanish federation, and helps women and men, to enter the discipline, not only in rally-raid, but also in rally, and I think that by making that union, and to be seen within the sector, with visits like mine or that of my co-driver, Pablo Moreno, as well as other great figures of motorsport who go to give classes with people, it brings a lot closer, and would encourage such actions for more people to access this discipline.
Q: Joan Barreda made a good reflection after abandoning, not knowing if it will be his last Dakar Rally, and he said that he continued with his same style even though it made him lose. Do you share that opinion?
A: I understand that in the end one has one's essence, one's objective and one's focus. It's true that I share the opinion that no one should make you doubt yourself, and that if you've reached that point, as [Joan Barreda] has reached, who is one of the best riders, who trusted in himself and didn't get carried away by comments or by 'I would do it this way,' and you would stop being you.
You wouldn't race the same way, with what you're born with. I'm very much what you're born with, and that's what I share.
Q: Finally, what does Cristina Gutierrez think about when she wakes up?
At breakfast [laughs]. I wake up thinking about the next day's stage, I'm not very complicated, I have breakfast, brush my teeth, and go on.
