D-1: NEW DAKAR’S EVE

Just before the start of the Dakar, which will take place today for the first time since 10 years ago in Mar del Plata in Argentina, the last day of administrative checks and technical scrutineering witnessed the visit to the King Abdallah Stadium in Jeddah of a large portion of the favourites in the major categories: the KTM bikes with three former winners, the Toyota team led by Nasser Al-Attiyah in the car race and also the players in the match between Cristina Gutiérrez’s OT3-Red Bull team and the South Racing squad led by “Chaleco” López.

Most gazes turned at midday towards the first major outing of the Audi Q RS e-tron hybrid 4x4s which will be driven by the last two winners of the rally in the car category, Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz.

Today, the rally will start with stage 1A between Jeddah and Ha’il in the form of a qualifying special, which will give rise to the first time gaps as well as determining the starting order for the caravan on stage 1B, with unprecedented new rules on the Dakar for the leading riders and drivers.

Peterhansel: “it’s a bit early to talk of victory”

There was an electric atmosphere at scrutineering for the visit of Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz, suitably decked out for New Year’s Eve! “Mr Dakar” and “El Matador” willingly answered a barrage of questions and could not skirt around the one on everybody’s mind in the paddock: just how competitive will the RS Q e-tron be from tomorrow onwards? With confidence in the future capacities of Audi’s technology, “Peter” raved about the car, speaking of “unbeatable comfort compared to a combustion engine, chiefly thanks to the absence of gear changes, meaning the driver can fully focus on steering skills”. This ambitious project seems to delight both stars, who did not avoid the issue of the project’s youth, as promising as it may be. Carlos Sainz had the following to say: “We’re not daft. We know that we have a complicated project in our hands. We will have to be more realistic. One thing is certain: nobody can say that we didn’t do all that was necessary in light of the time available to us. Everybody has poured every last ounce of effort into it. Now we are about to start the race and we will see what happens”. Stéphane Peterhansel views were as follows: “We know that winning will probably be complicated, even if we could have nice surprises in store. In any event, the project is such an interesting one that today I can already tell you that we are not disappointed… It’s already a victory to be starting the race with a car that seems to us to be interesting and capable of good performance. Audi is a prestigious constructor that has won all the competitions in which its cars have taken part, so we will do our utmost to achieve their goal which is victory. That said, it would be more reasonable to talk of triumph in 2023. For this year, it’s a bit early”.

Back to business for Coma

Following its dethronement for the last two editions by Honda after an exclusive eighteen-year reign, KTM are not afraid of showing that they are seeing red! Among the measures in the plan implemented with a view to getting their hands back on the title, the Austrians have put a specialist of the discipline back in the driving seat. Several days before the start, Marc Coma was announced as special adviser for the ‘oranges’ during the fortnight in Saudi Arabia. At the age of 45 years, the man who has held the position of KTM Spain General Manager for the last year will be present to help bring back some combativity thanks to the weight of his experience in winning 5 titles and twenty-five stages between 2005 and 2014: “After seven years, I’m delighted to come back to KTM where I’ve always had many friends involved in the race. I can’t wait to rediscover the rally’s atmosphere and I hope I can pass on my positive energy and a different viewpoint to the riders and teams to help them achieve their goals”.

A “last dance” for Walkner?

The “dream team” decked out in Red Bull colours is made up of three former Dakar winners. Kevin Benavides, the year’s most spectacular transfer, and his race plate number 1 are attracting most of the attention. Toby Price (the winner in 2016 and 2019) has also signed a new two-year contract. Both of them returned to competition last October for the Rallye du Maroc. On completion of this race, Matthias Walkner grabbed the title of world champion, even before the finale. “Hiasi” enjoys the status of life-long national hero in Austria since his triumph in 2018 but is coming to the end of his contract. Could this be a psychological advantage or disadvantage? “I think I don’t have so much pressure because I’ve had a really good season and I have the world championship title in my pocket, but of course our main goal is again to stay on the top in the Dakar. If I can continue again in a top three position it would be amazing. Right now, I feel super, super excited and motivated, I think more than ever, because it may be my last Dakar because my contract after this Dakar is finished”. Danilo Petrucci, recently retired from race circuits and a surprise guest who will enjoy the much sought-after status of official rider, is ready to seize the unique opportunity of a radical change in style, after the Italian’s 169 starts in the MotoGP discipline! However, this reconversion started in an extraordinary manner, with a broken ankle on 8th December during training followed by an initial positive COVID test result on Saudi soil that was soon revealed to be a false positive after a blood test! The Italian has already started to feel the heat even before the desert, which he will discover in the coming days. Nevertheless, at the age of 31 years, the track biker can point to genuine off-road experience which perhaps may allow him to become the best rookie in 2022… “I started competing in motocross at the age of 8 years. When I was sixteen, I stopped and switched to speed circuit racing until last month. I’ve always done motocross and enduro in training, especially in the last two years. However, I’ll have to take it easy to begin with, because of my recent injury”.

Stage 1A: place your bets

Tomorrow, on the 1st of January, the caravan for the 44th Dakar will set out from Jeddah to Ha’il, with the return to a traditional date for an innovative and unprecedented stage on the Dakar. The competitors will first have to cover a 225-km transfer to acclimatise with Saudi temperatures and reflect on the sentence with which Thierry Sabine finished his book “Paris-Dakar”: “It is true: I wear people out, I push them to the brink, but as a result, each year they come back stronger and more hardened, because it is equally true that on the 1st of January at 8 o’clock, they will once again be by my side and will proudly occupy their place”. It will in fact be a little earlier, at 7.30 AM to be precise, when the first bikes will start a new exercise: a qualifying special stage. Everyone will have to fight for their place over the short distance against the clock. Though customary in the FIA World Championship car category, this will be a first on the Dakar for everybody. The times achieved on the special will be used to determine the starting orders for the following day and will already give rise to an initial classification. In the car race, at the bivouac in the evening, the ten fastest drivers will be able to choose their place among the first ten positions the following day. The quickest driver will have the last word, the famous “king’s choice”. In the bike category, it will be the fifteen quickest riders who will place their names on a table of the first fifteen places, following the same principle; . These positions are ultra-strategic for the bikers, since the responsibility of opening the way is a very tricky task. This new rule is designed to reward good performance from the very start of the rally, without exposing the winner to a potential loss of time the following day. There will, however, be a subtle difference for the bikes: a coefficient of 5 will be applied to the times, increasing the gaps in order to discourage any riders who might still attempt to play around with the inaugural race against the clock by giving up the lead to set off behind the openers.

Camélia and Yamaha out to conquer

The veil has well and truly fallen on Yamaha’s plans in the T3-T4 category with the presentation at scrutineering of the “Pink Panther”. After a second place in the T3 race last year in a XYZ prototype developed with the X-Raid team, Camélia Liparoti will be tackling her thirteenth Dakar, without, however, having driven this season: “It will be the first race for the second version of this prototype. We didn’t want to present it before we had arrived at the totally finished product. The idea is to move up to T4 for 2023 after having produced two hundred and fifty vehicles on the basis of this model, as stipulated by the FIA rules. It’s going to be a European initiative. The main mission is to test the vehicle on the Dakar. The next one will be to take the three T3s to the end of the rally. Finally, and this mission is a dream for everybody who puts on their racing helmet and overalls, the last one is to win! We should have the turbo engine by the time we reach Abu Dhabi and for the rest of the World Championship, in which we will take part”.

Gently does it for Al-Attiyah

The new context in the car category stems from a twofold desire to orient manufacturers towards alternative energies and to place top drivers on an equal footing when faced with the dunes of the Saudi desert. In this scenario, might Nasser Al- Attiyah be the best performing current driver on an event like the Dakar? His roadmap for 2021 pleads in favour of a yes, given that this competition addict has enjoyed a perfect season so far. Although he at times has had a reputation as too acrobatic a performer, both his rivals and allies join together in praising his qualities. “He’s just got something more than the others,” explains Ronan Chabot. “He’s a desert fox and reads the terrain excellently. People keep thinking he’s pushing too hard, but in reality, the way he drives isn’t risky”. It is an aspect expanded upon by his boss at Toyota, Jean-Marc Fortin, who had the good idea of recruiting him for the first time in 2012 and who has had a prime view of his development: “He’s become the most intricate driver that I’ve ever seen. He understands the need to take it easy on his machine because he has an excellent knowledge of mechanics. He is the most complete driver and, in equally competitive cars, I would put all my money on the crew he forms with Mathieu Baumel, because they know each other by heart, which is their major asset for driving without pressure”. Al-Attiyah’s French co-pilot confirms the sensation of security that his partner exudes behind the wheel: “His consistency lies in the fact that he is never at 100%, which also opens up great possibilities in terms of race strategy. When we decide to strike a big blow on a special, he is capable of attacking calmly and making the difference”. The three times Dakar winner from Qatar will be taking starter’s orders as the main favourite, with his Toyota Hilux also boasting the supposed advantage of reliability. All remains to be proven on the terrain with this new T1+ whose big wheels, in any case, reassure the man in question: “I can handle having two or three punctures, but not twenty times like the last two years”.

Sherco: 80% new

The official KTM team will not be the only one to start the 44th edition of the Dakar with a new machine. French constructor Sherco, which achieved a 7th-place finish with Lorenzo Santolini in January 2021 when it could boast to have taken all its bikes to the finish of the rally, will also be showing off its new weapon in the desert. The three official riders will thus now be able to count on a 450 SEF Rally that is twelve kilos lighter, despite the fact that it has 3 litres’ more fuel capacity for greater autonomy. The Nîmes-based brand’s technicians have announced that the machine is 80% modified, with the objectives of greater sharpness and better distribution of weight. However, it is also a more “simplified” machine compared to its initial design which is now nine years old. One week is now all it takes for the mechanics to entirely assemble the race bike, as opposed to three weeks beforehand, putting it in a similar bracket to other constructors, proving the extent to which the Sherco has been transformed. All that remains is for “Santo” to prove its worth on tomorrow’s tracks!

The bikers take over MD Rallye

After two eleventh placed finishes on the last two Dakar rallies achieved by Jérôme Pélichet (2020) and Christian Lavieille (2021), the MD Rallye Sport team is back with seven Optimus buggies in its line-up. Will this be enough to make it into the top 10? The former two times winner of the Bol d’Or, who has enlivened the T2 category on the Dakar and who joined the MD Rallye clan last year, remains cautious: “In performance terms, forty cars from the field are today capable of achieving a top 10 place if you put Nasser Al-Attiyah behind the wheel”. His reservations are accentuated by a change from his usual co-pilot Jean-Pierre Garcin, replaced by Johnny Aubert, a two times enduro world champion and former official Sherco rider, who will be making a competitive comeback after his fall on the Dakar 2020. It will be his first time as a co-pilot, but also a baptism of fire for the new duo. Another former biker, with two MotoGP Grand Prix victories under his belt as well as a Superbike World Championship title in 2011, will also be making his debut in Antoine Morel’s team. Carlos Checa will be behind the wheel of an Optimus for his first participation on the Dakar. It will be his first time on four wheels, but not his first discovery of the rally-raid discipline because the Spanish rider has ridden his bike on the Merzouga Rally before trying out the SSV category: “I had planned to take part in the Rallye du Maroc with the Optimus, but in the end it wasn’t possible. I’m coming to the Dakar to participate and enjoy myself but without the pressure of a top performance. I’d like to continue in this discipline, but it will all depend on this first experience”. Carlos Checa could ask for tips from Ferrán Marco Alcayna, who can boast many Dakar participations and has already spent time in the top 5 of the truck category alongside Aleš Loprais.