NUMBER 2: KTM – Repsol RedBull
Marc Coma (ESP)

Marc Coma numbers among the group of promising drivers who, if fate smiles upon them, could well add their name to the Dakar Rally winners’ list. For since he started out in raid rally driving, the 29-year-old Spaniard has followed a trajectory that offers considerable cause for optimism.

His debut, in the 2002 Arras-Madrid-Dakar riding a dual-cylinder Suzuki 900, was most notable for a 7th place obtained in the 4th special. A few days later, he was forced to drop out of the rally, but the Catalan was back again in 2003, this time on the KTM team, producing a gutsy performance that testified to his tremendous mental strength: despite suffering a wrist fracture a few days before the finish, his experienced in endurance – see honours list – enabled him to hang on in there and clinch 11th place in the overall ranking. A model team player, he played a large part in the 2004 crowning of his friend and countryman Nani Roma, before a fall forced him to quit 5 days from the finish.

From one Dakar to the next, Marc Coma has enhanced his reputation. And after his display in the 2005 rally, when he finished second overall and pushed Cyril Despres hard right up until the last-but-one stage, he can no longer be regarded as still learning his trade. The winner of two World Cup rounds this season, Coma is now also free from the burden of having to share leadership of the team with Isidre Esteve Pujol, who recently signed for Gauloises. Supported by Sala, De Gavardo and Duran, Marc Coma has never been so well placed to challenge the favourite, Cyril Despres.


Marc Coma’s Dakar honours

2002 Abandoned Stage 9, Arras-Madrid-Dakar
2003 11th overall, Marseilles – Sharm El Sheik
2004 Abandoned Stage 14, Clermont-Ferrand - Dakar
2005 2nd overall, Barcelona – Dakar

NUMBER 307 - Volkswagen
Carlos Sainz (ESP) – Andreas Schulz (ALL)

After Ari Vatanen, Juha Kankkunen and Colin McRae, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz this year becomes the latest in an impressive list of multiple rally world champions to line up in the Dakar. The Madrid-born WRC record-holder with 26 victories who was crowned in 1990 and 1992 also boasts a quartet of runners-up titles and, in 17 years’ presence in the WRC, has mounted the final world championship podium on no less than 11 occasions. And therein lies perhaps the greatest strength of this man who was also Spanish squash champion at the age of 16: consistency. His 97 appearances on WRC podiums prove that beyond dispute!

Despite finishing 4th and 3rd respectively at the 2005 Turkish and Greek rallies, and still being as fast and enthusiastic as ever, “the Emperor” decided at the end of 2004, while doing freelance work for Citroen as a replacement for François Duval, to make way for the youngsters in the WRC. But after devoting several months to his family, Carlos Sainz received a string of proposals to proceed with his conversion. One of these came from Volkswagen at the start of the 2005 season with regard to his first Dakar participation. And for this eternally romantic Real Madrid supporter, such a tempting offer was hard to refuse.

Aged 43, Carlos Sainz is therefore embarking on the Dakar armed with a reputation for always being in contention for victory, but in what is his first participation, he is not openly targeting such an objective. A total raid rally novice, the Spaniard was initially counting on taking his first steps in the discipline at the Rally of the Pharaohs, and then in Dubai. But as Volkswagen opted not to enter him in these two events, preferring instead to conduct lengthy test sessions, Sainz has only driven his Race Touareg 2 competitively at the Baja Portalegre, where the terrain is very similar to what he is accustomed to in the WRC. Despite his excellent 3rd place overall, capped by a scratch during the last special, the double rally world champion is still nothing short of an amateur where the desert is concerned and will therefore have to undergo a steep learning curve before being able to attack.

But in this 28th Dakar marked by a return to navigation, this need for caution could work to his advantage, as he will be able to count on the experience of his German navigator Andreas Schulz, a double winner of the event in 2001 and 2003. But it remains to be seen if that will be enough to allow Carlos Sainz to equal the performance of Ari Vatanen, a winner in his first-ever Dakar in 1987…


The Dakar honours of Carlos Sainz

2006 First participation in the Euromilhoes-Lisbon-Dakar


Co-driver: Andreas SCHULZ (ALL)

- First participation in the Dakar in 1990
- Winner of the Dakar in 2001 with J. Kleinschmidt and in 2003 with H. Masuoka
- Dakar co-driver of Hiroshi Masuoka (94-2000, 2003, 2005), Jutta Kleinschmidt (01-02) and Andrea Mayer (2004)

NUMBER 504 – DAF DE ROOY 2006
Gerard De Rooy (NED)
Tom Colsoul (NED) – Arno Slaats (NED)

Having entered the raid rally scene with the return of his father in 2002, Gerard De Rooy has developed so rapidly that he already represents DAF’s best chance of triumphing again in the biggest of the raid rallies. Aged 25 and already with one podium appearance to his name in 2004, the son of the legendary Jan has become the king pin of the blue trucks’ Dakar campaign. Director of the family haulage firm, he has studied the last two rallies particularly closely with his father in order to ascertain all possible improvements to their DAF trucks, which have been monitored over 10,000 km of trials.

Lightning-fast but still a tad inconsistent, Gerard has learned a great deal from his recent errors, most notably his exit from the road last year that cost him his place on the podium, during the fifth stage between Agadir and Smara. Courtesy of this costly mishap, he had to content himself with 6th place overall.

The flying Dutchman’s mind is awash with thoughts of revenge this year, as he aims to interrupt the Kamaz domination. Declared objective: to get back on the podium in the category. Rumoured objective: to join his father on the event’s list of winners. If he is to do so, he will need to confirm the status bestowed on him after his first participation as a driver in 2003 of chief rival to the Russian Vladimir Tchaguine. At the time, he sauntered into the lead on the rally, clocking up 5 scratches in 11 specials before being forced to pull out with five stages to go.


Gerard De Rooy’s Dakar honours

2002 6th overall, Arras – Dakar
2003 abandoned on Stage 12, Marseilles – Sharm El Sheik
2004 3rd overall, Auvergne Region – Dakar
2005 6th overall, Barcelona - Dakar

NUMBER 85: THIERRY BETHYS

Thierry Bethys arrives on the Dakar preceded by a solid reputation. However, the triple winner of the Le Touquet Endurance event first wants to have fun and learn, without putting too much pressure on himself to achieve a particular result. That said, the native of the Vendée region is a born competitor and will be setting off on this year’s Dakar adventure with the aim of mixing it with the leading lights and clinching a place in the top 15. Only two months after a successful bench test at the Shamrock, where he finished second behind David Frétigné. “My second place overall was very satisfying for a first raid rally in Africa,” he emphasises. “Taking part in the Shamrock allowed me to confirm the technical choices on the bike with a view to the Dakar. And the bike acquitted itself brilliantly, both in terms of performance and reliability.”

Thierry Bethys has shown himself to be equally comfortable on the cold sand of the Pas de Calais beaches as on mud, hard ground, or the dust of numerous motocross tracks. Now, he is ready to follow in the tyre tracks of his idol, Hubert Auriol: “The Dakar is a childhood dream,” explains the official Honda driver. “Every year, I used to watch it on telly (…) I’ve been mulling it over for the last couple of years now and I’ve come to the conclusion that, at this stage, the Dakar is a natural extension to my professional riding career. With my experience of riding, mechanics and risk management, I feel mature enough, so I think it’s the right moment.” Thierry has insisted on organising his Dakar project himself, especially the search for sponsors, and neither has he spared himself in terms of physical preparation. After all, it’s all about giving himself the best possible chance of fulfilling that teenage dream.

NUMBER 18
YANNICK GUYOMARC’H

Devoting time and effort to helping others is his vocation. In daily life, Yannick Guyomarch works as a Paris fireman, but away from the station, he’s mad about all forms of biking and possesses a particular penchant for the raid rally. Yannick has also been won over by the charms of Africa and more precisely Morocco, where he has been organising the transportation of school materials for several years now. After a mixed experience on a humanitarian raid organised by a tour operator in 1999, he decided to switch to a more authentic initiative: “I wanted to arrange something myself, so I contacted some Moroccan charities in Genevilliers, who pointed me in the direction of the minister of state responsible for education in the Ouarzazate region, who has become my main ally in this operation.”

Where the race is concerned, Yannick will be out to improve on his first Dakar in 2004, which came to a premature end: “My engine packed up on the Narbonne special (torn radiator hose). It still rankles today, as it’s like losing a battle without even fighting.” This year, the fireman on a mission in the desert will therefore remain fully focused on his machine and on his physique in order to give himself every chance of success. But the school aid project is progressing nicely with a promising increase in scale: “The first year, at the Morocco rally, I distributed 50 “school kits”, enough for a year’s schooling for one child. Since, we have been increasing the volume each year, but now, I’m travelling only for that, and at the same time as the races too.”

The need to disassociate the sporting activity from the humanitarian operation does not prevent Yannick, who is competing in the rally without assistance, of setting ambitious targets for his “Moto 18 Rallye Raid” association: “at the moment, I’m setting up a double project for the spring. I’m planning to spend two weeks in the region, during which I will be holding first-aid training sessions for all the teachers. This idea of passing on knowledge pleases me. What’s more, we’re also going to equip as many schools as possible with IT equipment, the target being for all of them to have at least one computer.”