Català
The multiple technical issues, as well as health problems, have impacted the performance of Pons Rallysport in an edition where there were high expectations following the FIA World Baja Championship title won at the end of 2024.
“This is the end of a Dakar that hasn’t made things easy for us. We only competed in one stage with the car in full condition, and there we showed that we had the pace to be among the top Challengers.”
“It’s a shame to end like this, but the technical problems were decisive in this withdrawal.”
The rest day of Dakar 2025 brings unexpected news for Eduard Pons and Jaume Betriu. The Pons Rallysport team is forced to withdraw from the competition due to a crack detected in a bar of the roll cage of the Taurus T3 Max from the Nasser Racing team, caused by a small rollover in the fifth stage. This setback puts an end to a Dakar marked by ups and downs, where Pons and Betriu demonstrated their resilience in the face of the many adversities they encountered.
The incident that led to the withdrawal of the pilot from Lleida took place yesterday, during the second part of the marathon. While overtaking a truck around kilometer 330, amidst dust, the darkness of the night, and the lack of lights on their vehicle, they did not see a ditch and suffered a rollover at low speed. Although it initially seemed that there were no serious damages, a thorough inspection by the mechanics during the night revealed a structural crack in the chassis, making it impossible to continue due to safety reasons.
“This is a message I never wanted to have to deliver, but the harsh reality is that we are out of the Dakar. Yesterday’s stage was a real hell. After the steering problems we had and spending more than three hours trying to fix them, we had to complete the special at night without lights. It was under those conditions that we overtook a truck in the middle of the dust. We were going slowly, but we didn’t see a hole in the terrain, the car got stuck, and we flipped forward. It was a mild rollover, at low speed, and we landed on our wheels, which allowed us to continue without major complications, not imagining that the chassis could have been damaged. However, during the night, the mechanics found a crack in a bar, which forces us to abandon the race,” explained the pilot from Lleida.
The rally had started with high expectations for the Catalan team following a brilliant 2024, in which Pons became the FIA World Baja Champion in the Challenger category and finished third overall in the general classification. However, difficulties quickly emerged. Mechanical issues in the early stages, including turbo, steering, and brake failures, along with several punctures, affected the team’s performance. To these technical challenges was added the fact that both the pilot and co-driver had to deal with the flu in the first few days, which made their already difficult start even harder.
Despite these adversities, Pons and Betriu demonstrated their speed and fought for third place in the first part of the marathon stage, although two punctures set them back to a still commendable seventh position in their category. With no assistance in the bivouac, the team had to face the problems on their own; they repaired the tires and started the fifth stage with an excellent pace until a steering failure caused them to lose more than three hours. To make matters worse, the rollover they suffered later, which initially seemed not serious, unexpectedly ended their participation.
“This is the end of a Dakar that hasn’t made things easy for us. Right now, I have a great feeling of frustration. We only competed in one stage with the car in full condition, and there we showed that we had the pace to be among the top Challengers. It’s a shame to end like this, but the technical problems were decisive in this withdrawal. Despite this, we leave with reinforced experience and maturity, and with a desire to give it our all in the upcoming challenges,” he assures.
The abandonment of the race marks a hard setback for Pons, who had arrived at the Dakar with the ambition of fighting for a top position in the Challenger category, a dream that seemed achievable if the mechanics had held up. Despite not being able to continue, Eduard Pons and Jaume Betriu leave Saudi Arabia with valuable lessons and the feeling that, as far as they were concerned, they gave their all in a race that, even without mechanical issues, is already the toughest in the world. Having to deal with multiple technical problems made it an odyssey.