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Courtesy of X-Raid
Dakar Drama
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Courtesy of Red Bull
Dakar Drama
Cyril Despres pushing his Peugeot to the limits to catch teammate Peterhansel.
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Courtesy of Red Bull
Dakar Drama
Toyota pilot, Giniel de Villiers, tantalizingly close once again, capturing his fourth podium in five Dakar rallies.
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Courtesy of Red Bull
Dakar Drama
Peterhansel rocketing through the dunes on his way to his 12th Dakar title.
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Courtesy of Red Bull
Sebastien Loeb (FRA) from Team Peugeot Total is towed by Cyril Despres (FRA) during stage 11 of Rally Dakar 2016
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Courtesy of Red Bull
Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) from Team Peugeot Total performs during stage 2 of Rally Dakar 2016
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Courtesy of Red Bull
Cyril Despres (FRA) from Team Peugeot Total performs during stage 5 of Rally Dakar 2016
By Budd Stanley, photos courtesy of Red Bull, X-Raid
Mighty Mini’s knocked off their high seat at Dakar Rally
As iconic and epic as the infamous Dakar Rally has become, the last decade of this marathon two week long race has been a bit of a let down for those looking for a good title fight between rivals. Like so many other forms of motorsports, Dakar mimics the worlds’ financial situation, there are the 99% that work hard to make ends meet, then there are the 1-percenters that have total rule. In the case of Dakar, the X-Raid Mini All4 are the 1% usually guaranteed to win.
For the last 16 years, only three different cars have won the rally, Mitsubishi won from 2001 to 2007 with the Pajero, VW has owned the Dakar since its move to South America from 2009 to 2011, and since then the Mini’s have had no equal. So before all the competition cars even got on the boat to South America back in December, it was all but figured that the Mini team would walk away with their fifth straight victory, it was just a matter of which Mini would it be. Well, that was the way it was supposed to be.
Peugeot made a return in 2016 after a dismal first attempt last year. However, with the hard lessons learned last year, the French factory team was better equipped to take on the mighty Mini’s. There has also been a massive swelling of talent in the ranks of the top teams. This year the Dakar regulars will be joined by a large contingent of top professionals hailing from other genres of motorsport. Finally, Mother Nature is going to have something to say about who gets to the finish and who doesn’t. This year was an El Nino year, and the rally stages saw a massive amount of rain, creating large water crossings, flooding and car swallowing mud. The first stage of the rally even had to be canceled as event coordination helicopters were grounded due to weather.
WRC Ringers vs Dakar Specialists
The 2016 edition of the Dakar Rally proved to be an exercise of regulars against wannabe’s. However, the influx of wannabe’s this year proved to be a quality field of the who’s who of world class motorsports and not a flock of Russian oil billionaires looking for purchasable adventure and glory.
No, these Dakar hero hopefuls come from the ultra competitive and skilled world of the WRC (World Rally Championship). Not since the mid 80’s and the banning of Group B has such a migration of rally drivers moved from the stages to the open desert.
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) and Carlso Sainz (Spain) - both compete at Dakar regularly and each have wins - made a return, but they also had Xavier Pons (Spain), Mikko Hirvonen (Finland), Martin Prokop (Czek Republic) and the unbeatable Sebastien Loeb (France) in tow this year.
Dakar’s of yesteryear – you know, the ones that actually went to Dakar – were more about navigating across the great expanses of the Sahara. Today, the Dakar is more like a marathon round of the WRC with a couple days in the Atacama Desert to keep the whole thing authentic. So the stage rallyists were right at home.
The Long Haul
Of the 354 vehicles that started the Dakar, only 218 (84 motorcycles, 23 quads, 67 cars and 44 trucks) would survive to see the finish line after two full weeks of punishing competition. The heavy rainfall over the first quarter of stages took a viscous toll on both ends of the field. Humble adventurers and hero’s alike found themselves stuck in the ensuing quagmire, spending hours trying to dig their vehicles out, or simply walking away. Nani Roma was a favourite to win the rally before losing an hour on the first stage to the mud.
The key to staying within the top end of the leader board is to stay out of trouble, but for many favourites, that just wasn’t possible. Stage 10 would prove to be the undoing of two Peugeot teammates. After an incredible start, Sebastien Loeb had to be towed in on a rope after “breaking many things.” His teammate, Carlos Sainz, cracked the spacer holding his gearbox to the engine on the same stage.
It was a miserable rally for Robby Gordon. The American got stuck in the mud on stage one, ran out of fuel on stage six and experienced multiple mechanical issues on stage 8. A crash between him and one of his service vehicles on the road section to the finish marked the end of a tough event that saw him finish 26th.
Mr Dakar
Stéphane Peterhansel is to Dakar what Michael Schumacher is to Formula1, or Tom Kristensen is to the Le Mans 24-hour. Peterhansel has been a fixture at Dakar, earning himself no less than 11 wins, six wins on a motorcycle and a further five wins at the wheel of a car. His domination of the Dakar on both sides of the Atlantic has earned Peterhansel the nickname “Mr Dakar.”
“I’m really proud to win for Peugeot because it was a completely new team and after only two years we took the victory,” noted Peterhansel at the finish line. “Really proud, really satisfied. These are good memories because it wasn’t easy.”
As with any event as large as this, the planning for the 2017 Dakar has already commenced. Come New Years next year, the Dakar will start all over again, and this time, who knows what could happen.
2016 Dakar Rally Top Five
- Stéphane Peterhansel (F) Jean-Paul Cottret (F) Peugeot 45h 22min 10sec
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Mathieu Baumel (F) Mini +34min 58sec
- Giniel de Villiers (ZAF) Dirk von Zitzewitz (D) Toyota +1h02min 47sec
- Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) Michel Perin (F) Mini +1h 05min 18sec
- Leeroy Poulter (ZAF) Robert Howie (ZAF) Toyota +1h 30min 43sec