Romanians Emanuel Gyenes and Marcel Butuza  will compete in the 2012 Dakar Rally edition, running against 186 other drivers. The Romanian pilots will leave today (December 27) to Argentina. Both of them took part in the 2011 competition as well.

The 2012 Dakar Rally will start on January 1 at Mar del Plata, Argentina, and will end on January 15 in the capital of Peru, Lima. The route for the Moto category measures 8,363 km and will cross the pampas, the Andes and the Atacama Desert.

In 2011, the Dakar Rally ended with a Romanian historical performance. Emanuel Gyenes won the Marathon and finished 18th in the overall ranking of the rally, while Marcel Butuza reached the 6th place at the Marathon.

Marcel Butuza, a businessman from Brasov, has been a motorcycle pilot for the last 30 years. He learned to ride a motorcycle at the age of 14. During his career, he competed in different branches of the motor sport and he has been awarded various titles. He runs the Vectra motorcycling club, where he is the leader of a four-pilot team. Butuza owns the Vectra group of companies in Brasov, Central Romania, with activities in real estate, construction and logistics. His wealth was estimated by Forbes Romania at some EUR 24 million in 2010. Emanuel (Mani) Gyenes, 26 years old, is four times enduro and four times endurocross champion in Romania.

The Dakar race adventure started in 1977, when Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. He returned to France but came up with a route that connects Paris to Dakar. The rally has been moved due to political instability in the area where it was initially organized. The 2008 edition was canceled and its organizers moved the race to South America.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Vectraracing.ro)