Lucas
Moraes
Brazil
·
Rally Raid
Date of birth | 12 December 1989 |
|---|---|
Age | 36 |
Nationality | Brazil |
Disciplines | Rally |
At the age of 32, Brazilian driver Lucas Moraes made his debut in the 2023 Dakar Rally in a powerful Toyota car with the Belgian Overdrive team. Participation in the toughest of driving challenges was Moraes’s reward for becoming increasingly established amongst the motorsport elite.
Having twice won the Mitsubishi Cup – the biggest single-make competition in South America – he then landed the Brazilian national championship on three occasions and also the toughest race in South America – the Rally dos Sertões – twice, first in 2019 (when he became the rally’s youngest champion) and then again in 2022 with Toyota Overdrive.
For the 2023 Dakar, Moraes was accompanied for his first adventure in the biggest rally in the world by Timo Gottschalk, an experienced German navigator who’s partnered with the likes of Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah, with whom Gottschalk won the 2011 edition of the Dakar.
After a hugely impressive Dakar debut, Moraes's third place finish at the 2023 edition have seen him become Brazil's most successful performer in the car class of all time and his future at this elite level looks assured.
Moraes joined TOYOTA GAZOO Racing to tackle the 2024 Dakar in the elite T1+ car class, and he and his co-driver Armand Monleon were looking set for an impressive overall result after winning Stage 3 and working their way up to third place in the rankings - only for them to tumble down the order due to technical difficulties. Lucas and Armand kept going, though, and managed to finish in ninth overall, which represents a solid result for the pair and their Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ vehicle.
In the 2025 Dakar Rally, he won the 12th and final stage alongside his navigator Armand Monleón. He ended up 14th overall, largely because of technical issues (suspension problems) earlier in the rally.
The same year, he clinched a historic FIA World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) driver’s title, becoming the first Brazilian to win a world rally raid championship.
Lucas Moraes is the first Brazilian to win a world rally raid championship
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Lucas Moraes impressed on his debut Dakar in 2023
© Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
Camping under the stars for the South African Safari Rally
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Lucas Moraes sends the Toyota through the sand of Morocco
© kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool