The world’s most successful rally driver ever is continuing his mission to conquer the Dakar Rally.
There’s a lot we could write about when it comes to the Dakar Rally. Trust us, a lot. We could go on about the scale of the event and how 9,000kms (half of those timed special stages) get covered in just 15 days with only one day of rest at the halfway mark. The varying terrain the drivers and riders will encounter as their cars, bikes, trucks and quads will go through is awe-inspiring too. Fast and curvy dirt roads to riding through sand dunes with different kinds of soil composition that can affect how a vehicle goes through it.
There’s also the history of this event. The 2018 edition is the 40th running of the rally and it has seen battles aplenty between manufacturers and individuals who have added to its rich history. Since 2016, however, the participation of former nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb and his quest to add a Dakar Rally crown to his glittering CV has captivated the event’s followers. Participating with the factory Peugeot team against drivers like ‘Mr. Dakar’ himself (Stephane Peterhansel) has made Loeb’s quest anything but a cakewalk.
Then there is also Carlos Sainz, a former two-time world rally champion and a Dakar winner, whose years of experience has given him the edge over relative ‘newbie’ Loeb. The Frenchman would undoubtedly want to put his name on the winner’s trophy before Sainz and Peterhansel call time on motorsport altogether.
Loeb is clearly up for the challenge as his stage wins have shown. Not to mention a visible improvement from 2016 to 2017. A horrific crash put him out of the lead in his first year but he still finished ninth overall. Thanks, in no small part, to the Peugeot mechanics being able to build pretty much an entirely new car following the crash that allowed him to continue. He was second overall las year. And something that make his achievements all the more remarkable is the fact that he is competing with someone as green to cross-country rallying as he is.
Monaco’s Daniel Elena has been his co-driver throughout his ultra-successful WRC career and on both his Dakar outings. And Elena is along for the ride this year too. It is an old saying in rallying that the relationship between a driver and a co-driver is one that can make or break one’s chances of success.
One certainly saw how a bad partnership can affect the outcome in the much-circulated video of Samir Thapar and Vivek Punnosammy from the 2013 Coimbatore Rally. On the flipside, Loeb and Elena’s working relationship is an example of how two people gelling together in one of the most high-pressure environments in the world can reap huge rewards.
Aside from their previous participation, both have trained extensively using an ATV and the great wide open to get the hang of navigating without a GPS and going flat out at the same time. Not an easy thing to do, and most certainly not for those competing on two wheels.
We haven’t forgotten about the competitors who are arguably the bigger heroes of the Dakar Rally. Yes, a lot of focus may be on Loeb and his quest but just looking at photographs, let alone video footage or live action, of riders going in excess of 180km/h on two wheels and navigating for themselves is breathtaking.
KTM and Honda are set to resume their battle once more with Toby Price returning from injury in an attempt to re-establish himself as the top rider at KTM. Great Britain’s Sam Sunderland won in the Aussie’s absence last year. Gunning for them both will be Honda’s Joan Barreda Bort, who will be trying to overcome the Japanese manufacturer’s obvious disadvantage to their great Austrian rivals.
KAMAZ and IVECO will slug it out in the heavyweight truck category as the Dakar Rally winds its way from Lima in Peru to the finish at Cordoba in Argentina. And all along the way, cocking a snook at the current trend of city and arena-based motorsport will be millions of spectators.
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