Joan "Jumbo" Lascorz, the first quadriplegic rally pilot and member of our #BatecRapidTeam, is competing in CERTT (Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship) for the second year in a row. So how does a pilot with such a severe spinal injury prepare for a championship of this magnitude? "I am lucky enough to be able to participate in the project that the 17 Foundation has developed so that people with injuries similar to mine can go back to the world of competition or compete for the first time," he told us. "The Batec Mobility family is fully aware of what it means to revolutionise disabled individuals' mobility, and if these technologies are applied to a race car, the result is the 17 Foundation-Glaner TT".
«Joan is participating in the project that the 17 Foundation has developed so that people with several spinal injuries can go back to the world of competition or compete for the first time.»
Joan uses just one hand to pilot an adapted Polaris, which allows him to participate and compete against the other pilots with no disabilities as just another competitor without any distinctions. He supports himself on the steering wheel with his left hand and controls the gas and brake with the right. Even though this is all his injury allows him to do, Joan keeps winning when he pilots a race car. "To tell you the truth, when I get in the car and rev the gas, I forget all about the wheelchair".
«To date, the Lascorz-Brugué team are ranked seventh in the general classification and third in the buggy category.»
Even though they are barely halfway through the CERTT calendar, Joan Lascorz and Sergi Brugué, his co-pilot, are satisfied with their results so far. "We've ranked in all the races and right now we're seventh in the general classification and third in the buggy category. This is far better than in our debut last year." Brugué, who comes from the world of rallies on asphalt, where the co-pilot's job is different than in raids, "is transitioning really quickly", he tells us. Still, the results are spectacular. "If there is anything that characterises the members of this team it is willpower".
«It's very exciting to return to Portugal as a pilot and realise that the fans still remember you.»
Apart from CERTT, last June Joan decided to test his luck in his first race outside of Spain. He travelled to Portugal with 17 Foundation to participate in the Baja do Pinhal, where he managed to finish the race even though the shifter broke within the first few kilometres. "It's very exciting to return there as a pilot and realise that the fans still remember you".
The next event where we can watch Joan compete and get around the paddock with his BATEC RAPID will be in the Baja Aragón, which will be held in Teruel and Zaragoza from the 22nd to 24th of July, where last year he came in a brilliant sixth place.
¡Gasss, Joan!