Franco Picco Racing Team at the Dakar 2011

Franco Picco, a fifty-five-year-old driver from Veneto, decided to participate in the 2011 Dakar with a team entirely made up of Italian drivers, led by himself: the "Franco Picco Racing Team”. The four riders hired by Picco will compete sitting on the motorcycles Yamaha WR450F, developed thanks to the JVO Racing Rally Raid package: they are, in addition to Picco himself (who will drive with the number 83), Antonio Cabini (who will be recognizable by the number 89), Guido Cusumano (who will use the number 93), Carlo Maria Zuffetti (who will pilot with the number 84) and Gianni Stefani (who will use the number 109).

Franco Picco participates in the important competition for eighteenth time: more specifically, he was part of the Dakar Rally twice using a truck, six times using a car and nine times using a motorcycle, as in the case of the year 2011. His motorsport curriculum he is made of great successes and countless challenges, which make him expert enough to lead the team of the same name through the dangers of the Dakar. However, Picco was not just a motorcycle racer: during the year that is coming to an end, he played the role of ambassador and testimonial of the new Yamaha Tenere 1200, painted by the same company as the three tuning forks as a return to the asphalt of a symbol of off-road driving, today also destined for the everyday road.

On the first day of January of next year, Picco and his men will begin the race, among the great abundance of enthusiasts and spectators (it is estimated that the 2010 edition attracted the attention of around half a million people): the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, will also be the stage for the end of the competition (as well as the departure of the competitors), after a series of tests in Argentina and Chile and numerous thousands of kilometres.