The initial breakdown of the car, the rescue of the Dutch truck at night which brought them to international prominence, the oil leak from the differential and the consequent penalties, the broken brake booster in the last three days of the race could do nothing in the face of the determination of Tito and Silvio Totani who completed the 2024 Dakar, crossing the finish line today in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia on the shores of the Red Sea.
For the two brothers from L’Aquila, the position in the standings even became secondary: theirs was a feat considering the characteristics of the car with which they competed. A Nissan Patrol GR Y62, 4,800 cc petrol, 6 cylinders, 320 horsepower, the oldest in the race, certainly the only one with rigid axles.
In short, a vehicle from another era in light of the very expensive prototypes participating in today’s Dakar. The Totanis – Silvio, pilot, and Tito, navigator – then became protagonists of an episode that made them famous far beyond national borders: the rescue of a Dutch crew’s truck, which had overturned between the dunes and them, with a clever maneuver, they managed to right themselves in the darkness of the night.
“Our goal, this time too, was to get to the end and we achieved it, without any ambitions of ranking – comment the two competing with the number 271 -. Right from the start we realized that the result of completing the race it could have been unattainable and no one can imagine what it cost us and the efforts and hardships we had to endure.”
The Totani crew is on the list of “finishers”, that is, those who finished the race without a final time. A result considered exceptional if you consider that this edition of the famous rally was designed to be more difficult than the previous ones and many drivers were unable to reach the end, including multiple champions.
breaking latest news © Copyright ANSA