BarcelonaIsidre Esteve (Oliana, 1972) is one of the few drivers who finishes the Dakar stages with hand pain. It’s normal for him, but not for the rest of the drivers. He, since he is in a wheelchair, has all the controls in his hands and after hundreds of kilometers the physical load is enormous. It is still difficult for him to bear his condition: it is part of his everyday life, but he does not remember it or is aware of it. After finishing the 18th Dakar, Esteve attends the ARA, as always, with a smile from ear to ear.
The Dakar is the quintessential motoring event, but what does it mean to you?
— The Dakar is the race of my life. Even if I’m in a wheelchair, which I sometimes forget, I’m in an environment that is the clear example of inclusive sport. The Dakar is the absolute normality of the situation I live.
This year has been particularly cruel to the pilots.
— It was an edition in which half of the participants did not finish. The Dakar is very complicated and hard and in my conditions, even more so; although we don’t talk about it much and I don’t like talking about it. We have a great team and thanks also to Lidia, my wife. Otherwise I wouldn’t be there or do what I do and how I do it without her.
The wheelchair conditions a lot, of course. Is one of the beautiful parts of the Dakar that it doesn’t make distinctions?
— I have to thank the organization for having all the circumstances very present and allowing us to be there on equal terms with the rest. In the camps there are adapted toilets and only when we arrive we are given the keys, for example. They know that we have some added difficulties and they take that into account.
That the hardest test in the world creates a space with equal conditions must not be easy.
— In the Dakar I forget that I’m wearing a wheelchair. It has never been said that we, with our disability, should have a bonus. That when a tire is punctured only the co-pilot goes down to change it and the others go down two? No one has considered whether this affects, but neither have we! We appreciate it being this way. It’s an extreme test, in the middle of the desert, we spend the night there… And nothing happens. The co-pilot grabs me and pulls me out of the car and I get out and help. We have adapted our environment to everyone’s needs, so everyone can go.
You have been racing in the Dakar for many years. How have you changed as a pilot and as a person these years?
— I have a problem: my physique has changed, but my head has not. Many times, my head thinks as if I don’t have what I have and then I find myself unable to do what I decided to do and the way I decided to do it. It happens to me less and less, but sometimes it still happens to me. Many times I realize I’m in a wheelchair when I see a person in one. As long as I don’t see it, I don’t think so.
are you happy
— A lot, to be able to continue doing what I want to do in the way I can do it. Not from what I would like. I don’t think about how I would do this if what happened to me hadn’t happened to me. I do what I do how I do it and how I can. One day I will stop running and be the team manager. I like taking care of people.
Do you have to be made of a different material to go to the Dakar?
— The Dakar is a special race because it is a race for the elite of the competition world, but the difference with others such as F1 or MotoGP is that amateur drivers also race here. At the same table are Carlos Sainz, Sébastien Loeb, me and a person who doesn’t know anyone, but is also there competing. They have been able to fit in the same race with the same difficulties, the same rules and the same route the professional pilot, the amateur, the one with a disability and the one who wants to experience the challenge of his life. When the Dakar is over, there are many people who are happy. This does not happen in any other competition.
Do you miss the Original Dakar, the one that crossed Africa?
— This is a matter of nostalgia, of magic. It is clear that we would all like to go back in certain aspects of life, but the world moves forward at a rapid pace. We all have selective memory. When we remember Africa’s Dakar, we only remember the best. We were running in conditions where, from the point of view of now, there was a lot of insecurity. You left for a stage of 800 kilometers in Mauritania or Mali, which were not in communication with anyone. When something happened to you, you prayed that someone would find you. When you had a fall on a motorcycle and became unconscious, you couldn’t activate the beacon to be found. Nobody knew anything. Now there is absolute control of the race. With this control we have lost the magic of before, but we need it.
The team is crucial to be able to compete in the Dakar.
— It’s very important whatever your goal is. When it comes to winning, without a very professional team that works together, it is impossible to achieve it. In non-professional teams like ours, human quality is more important. There are details that can be done or not, but if they are done people are more comfortable, safe and happy. I always explain this situation: you do a stage where it rains all day and the car is dirty, full of mud and cold. You arrive at the assistance area as night falls. The car has to be fixed by tomorrow and there are three mechanics who put on waterproofs and thermals and work through the night in the rain. You get up in the morning and the car is spotless. For this to work, people need to be happy, have hot coffee and feel cared for. If not, things are not done with the same affection.
If there’s one person you spend many hours with, it’s Chema, your co-pilot. How do you avoid moments of tension?
— They are good people. It is very important! It must always be constructive. Having ridden a motorcycle for many years, I know what it’s like to navigate and how difficult it is. It’s not true that people talk to each other, you have to talk well.
