Passionate about motorsport from a young age, Cristina Gutiérrez has carved out a hugely successful career in the world of off-road racing. Regularly excelling in the Dakar Rally, her first taste of competition came in 2011 when she took part in the All-Terrain Spanish Rally Championships. Despite it being her first high-profile race, the Spaniard would finish top of the female category. Cristina continued to dominate the Championships for the next five years, finishing top of her category on each occasion, while in 2015 she secured second-place overall in the mixed-gender category.
After six consecutive wins on home soil, Cristina decided to explore the world of Rally Raid, competing in the 2016 edition of the Sealine Cross-Country Rally in Qatar. Showcasing her natural talent, she would claim victory in the women’s category, a result that convinced the Spanish driver she was ready to test her skills in the famed Dakar Rally.
In 2017, Cristina made her Dakar debut and became the first woman from Spain to ever finish the off-road classic in a car. She would replicate this feat the following year before achieving her best result in 2019, securing 26th place overall.
2020 would see Cristina yet again finish the Dakar, while one year later she would carve her name into the record books when she became just the second woman ever to achieve a stage victory in the legendary rally.
Following this impressive performance, Cristina chose to embark on a new adventure, joining the first edition of Extreme E – an FIA-sanctioned international off-road racing series that uses spec electric SUVs. Racing for Lewis Hamilton’s Team X44, alongside the legendary Sébastien Loeb, the duo finished third in the first race of the series, the 2021 Desert X-Prix in Saudi Arabia.
Cristina followed this up with another hugely impressive display, claiming the overall victory in the T3 class at Rally Andalucia to hand the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team their first-ever rally win.
Later in 2021, Cristina made yet more history as she became the first-ever female driver to win the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. She also finished in second place overall in the inaugural Extreme E championship alongside team-mate Sébastien Loeb.
In 2022, Cristina returned to the Dakar Rally and had another excellent performance by finishing in third place overall, giving the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team their first top-three result in the Dakar and becoming the first Spanish woman to step onto the final podium of the rally. In addition, later that year during the second season of Extreme E, Cristina and her teammate Sébastien Loeb were crowned Extreme E World Champions. This made Gutiérrez the first athlete, regardless of gender, of Spanish nationality in history to win the championship in this sport.
During 2023, Cristina Gutiérrez would complete her seventh Dakar with a stage victory, finishing 4th in T3 and being the highest-ranked Spanish driver of both genders in the general standings, occupying the 31st position in the car category. With regard to the third season of Extreme E, the driver will try to defend her championship title along with her new teammate, Fraser McConnell, in X44, Lewis Hamilton’s racing team.
