Camelia Liparoti

Camelia Liparoti is an Italian rally raid legend who dominated the FIM Women’s Cross-Country Rallies World Cup for six consecutive years and became the first woman to finish the Dakar Rally on a quad—all while racing in signature pink.

EARLY YEARS

Born on July 11, 1973, in Livorno, a coastal city in Italy’s Tuscany region, Camelia Liparoti didn’t start out as a desert racing maven. She moved to Chamonix, France—the legendary Alpine resort at the base of Mont Blanc—where she worked as a professional photographer specializing in skiing. Her lens focused on extreme sports and mountain culture before she ever thought about racing herself. In 2005, she arrived at the Dakar Rally on photo assignment, camera in hand, expecting to document other people’s adventures. Instead, during a trip to Africa, she discovered something she hadn’t anticipated: the desire to be in the race herself, not just shooting it from the sidelines.

OTHER INTERESTS

Before rally raid consumed her life, Liparoti was already an accomplished athlete in her own right. She’s a professional skier and extreme ski enthusiast who knows her way around steep mountain faces. She’s also an accomplished mountaineer who summited Mont Blanc in 2002 and tackled peaks over 6,000 meters. These weren’t weekend hobbies—they were the pursuits of someone who thrives on pushing limits and testing herself against brutal terrain. That appetite for challenge, honed on ice and rock, would translate perfectly to sand and dirt.

EARLY SUCCESS

After falling hard for rally racing, Liparoti made her Dakar debut and quickly established herself as a force in the women’s quad and motorcycle categories. She retired from the 2009 edition but came back swinging. In 2010, at age 37, she made history by becoming the first woman to finish the Dakar Rally on a quad—a milestone that cemented her status as a trailblazer in a sport where simply finishing is an achievement. From there, she didn’t just participate—she dominated. Between 2009 and 2014, she won the FIM Women’s Cross-Country Rallies World Cup six times in a row, a streak that proved she wasn’t just breaking barriers, she was setting them on fire.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2009–2014: Won the FIM Women’s Cross-Country Rallies World Cup six consecutive times[1].
• 2010: Became the first woman to finish the Dakar Rally on a quad[2].
• 2021: Claimed second place in the T3.1 lightweight prototypes class at the Dakar Rally with co-driver Annett Fischer, competing for the X-raid Yamaha Racing Rally Team[3].
• 2022: Finished second in the T3 Light Weight Prototypes class with 12 Dakar rally finishes to her credit, driving the Yamaha YXZ1000R Prototype[4].
• 2024: Transitioned from her signature Yamaha blue and pink to driving a black Challenger OT3 for Guillaume de Mevius’s G-Rally squad, finishing 20th in the 48H Chrono Challenger class[5].

INSPIRATIONS

Liparoti’s path into racing wasn’t shaped by childhood dreams of motorsports stardom—it was forged by her camera and her curiosity. Covering the Dakar as a photographer in 2005 gave her a front-row seat to one of the world’s most punishing races, and something clicked. The combination of extreme terrain, endurance, and sheer grit spoke to the same part of her that loved skiing black diamond runs and climbing mountains. She saw the Dakar not as an impossibility, but as the next challenge. And when she decided she couldn’t turn her back on it, she didn’t just dip her toe in—she dove headfirst and never looked back.

REPUTATION

Liparoti is known as much for her consistency as her courage. With 14 consecutive Dakar Rally starts and nine finishes in the top 10 on a quad, she’s earned the nickname “Pink Panther” for her signature pink gear and helmet—an aesthetic choice that became iconic in the rally raid world. She’s raced draped in Yamaha blue for years, became synonymous with the brand’s prototype vehicles, and built a reputation as someone who shows up, finishes, and doesn’t back down. Even when she switched to a black Challenger OT3 in 2024—earning the moniker “Black Panther”—the pink helmet stayed, because some things are non-negotiable. She’s respected not just for breaking records, but for her longevity in a sport that chews people up and spits them out. Liparoti keeps coming back, year after year, proving that toughness isn’t about one big win—it’s about showing up when it’s hard.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

At 51 years old as of 2024, Liparoti shows no signs of slowing down. She competed in the Dakar Future Mission 1000, a project focused on sustainable racing technology that mixes electric and bio-ethanol-powered engines, signaling her interest in the future of motorsports beyond just finishing races. She’s also shown a willingness to pivot—after nine Dakar starts on a quad and six more in T3 or T4 vehicles, she switched to the Challenger class in 2024 with just five minutes’ notice from veteran co-driver Walter Fortichiari, who has done the Dakar 34 times. If her career trajectory is any indication, she’s not done making history—she’s just getting started on the next chapter.

REFERENCES

Camelia Liparoti – Wikipedia
Camelia Liparoti makes history! – mxdose.com
Camelia Liparoti Archives – Horsepower & Heels
Camelia Liparoti, a Pink Panther with a dash of black – Dakar
Female power as part of the X-raid DNA – X-raid Team
Dakar 2018: Competitor Profile – Camelia Liparoti – Motorcycle Life
A dream season for Camelia Liparoti – FIM
Memorable Women from Dakar | Garage Italia
The Female Side of Dakar Rally – Racers Behind The Helmet
Camelia Liparoti leads Yamaha and X-raid YXZ1000R Prototypes into Dakar Rally 2022
Successful Debut for the X-raid Yamaha Racing Rally Supported Team
2024 Dakar Rally – Wikipedia