The Spaniard Carlos Tatay wants to line up at the Dakar 2028. In an interview with Informativos Telecinco, published on Sunday, 4 October 2026, the 23-year-old explicitly names the rally as his sporting goal: “The Dakar 2028. The toughest race in the world is my goal, and we are going for it.” (translated from Spanish, Informativos Telecinco)
This is a statement of intent by the rider. An entry for the Dakar 2028 is not documented, nor is the class in which Tatay would compete. There is no confirmation from the organiser.
Crash in a Moto2 race
Tatay came from road racing. On 2 July 2023, according to Telecinco, he crashed in a Moto2 race when he was thrown from his bike in a corner at more than 300 km/h. The spinal cord injury took away the movement of his legs. Since then, at the age of 20, he has depended on a wheelchair. According to the report, five months of rehabilitation followed at the Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos in Toledo.
A new path through rally raid
Tatay did not return to a motorcycle. Telecinco writes that he had to say goodbye to his great dream, motorcycles, and found a new form of competition in rally raid. A year after the crash, he reportedly stood on a podium. A caption in the same article attributes this first podium to his first race in the GSeries Andorra. The report gives no further details on the class or the exact date of this result.
Photos in the Telecinco article show Tatay getting into an adapted buggy, in which he now competes.
Book “Mi motor interno”
Tatay has written down his story. “Mi motor interno” is published in 2026 by Ediciones B and runs to more than 200 pages. According to Telecinco, the book spans from the first motorcycle he was given at the age of three, through the crash and depression, to his return to competition. The focus is on the first eighteen months after the crash.
In the interview, Tatay describes the upheaval as very great for such a short time. Not losing his rhythm and direction, he says, helped him to rebuild. The headline of the Telecinco piece quotes him with the sentence: “I don’t see fear in my story.” (translated)
Sources and photo credits
- Text: Candela Hornero, “Carlos Tatay, piloto de 23 años, tras el accidente que le dejó en silla de ruedas: ‘No contemplo el miedo dentro de mi historia'”, Informativos Telecinco, 4 October 2026: telecinco.es
- Photo 1: Carlos Tatay with his trophies; rights holder according to Telecinco: Carlos Tatay (@carlostatay99), shared on social media; original source: Informativos Telecinco; published on 4 October 2026, date taken not stated.
- Photo 2: Carlos Tatay getting into his adapted buggy; photographer not named, provided according to Telecinco (“cedida”); original source: Informativos Telecinco; published on 4 October 2026, date taken not stated.