NUMBER 3 - KTM Gauloises
Isidre Esteve Pujol (ESP)

At the age of 33 and after sixteen years of bike competition, Isidre Esteve Pujol is donning a new costume for this 28th Dakar. The designated successor to Roma at the head of the Repsol KTM team when “Nani” switched to four wheels, Isidre finally left the Spanish stable in 2005 to join the opposition, namely the blue bikes of Gauloises. While Esteve finds himself in the position of “team-mate and competitor” of the title-holder Cyril Despres. And his rivalry with his junior Marc Coma will be even more pronounced now that he is no longer hindered by team strategies.

In his eight Dakar participations, this former Spanish endurance champion has quit just once: this was in 2003 when he rode a dual-cylinder KTM after fracturing his arm a few weeks before the rally’s start. Down the years, he has forged a reputation as a rider of rare consistency. An ever-present in the top 30, he finished first in the production category and fourth overall in 2001. In 2004, Isidre dominated the race as far as Mauritania, where a mechanical problem ruined his chance of making the podium.

In last year’s rally, he found himself in direct competition with his compatriot Marc Coma. Accepting good-naturedly the supporting role of water-carrier allotted to him after the first days’ racing, Esteve accomplished his mission all the way to Dakar, again finishing at the foot of the podium less than 3’ behind his “leader” at the end of a 5,431-km special!

This season, the constant jockeying for position with Marc Coma has continued. In the two World Cup rounds in which he has taken part, Esteve finished second in the Por Las Pampas rally behind Coma, and won the Morocco rally… ahead of Coma! Clearly, the tracks of the 28th Euromilhoes Dakar will constitute the ideal setting for another Spanish-style duel.


Isidre Esteve Pujol’s Dakar honours

1998 18th overall, Paris-Grenada-Dakar
1999 11th overall, Grenade-Dakar
2000 12th overall, Dakar-Cairo
2001 4th overall, Paris-Dakar (winner of the Production category)
2002 5th overall, Arras-Madrid-Dakar
2004 23rd overall, Clermont-Ferrand-Dakar (winner of a special)
2005 4th overall, Barcelona-Dakar (one special)

NUMBER 307 – Volkswagen
Bruno Saby (FRA) – Michel Perin (FRA)

A multiple French rally champion and winner of the Monte-Carlo and Tour de Corse, Bruno Saby has made a perfect success of his conversion to raid rallies, tasting Dakar glory in 1993 in a Mitsubishi Pajero. The man from Grenoble has taken part in the event 12 times, eight with “Mitsu”, two in the Ford Ranger Protruck and, lastly, twice more at the wheel of the Volkswagen Touareg, which he is driving again for this 28th Dakar.

5th in the overall ranking at last year’s rally, Bruno Saby had a more than satisfying race, his initial objective having primarily been to develop the Race Touareg. With a view to the construction of the brand-new Race Touareg 2, the Frenchman has continued to shoulder this responsibility throughout the regular season. However, this long drawn-out job has not prevented him from shining on the four World Cup rounds in which he has participated, claiming three victories and a second-place finish which, at the age of 56, enabled him to claim his first major international title and most importantly to bring VW their first international-level recognition.

Volkswagen and their star driver will therefore be going into the 2006 Dakar full of confidence, with the objective of victory having been unequivocally declared. The competition will be tight, both within his own team, where Saby will have to share the leadership with three other potential winners, Kleinschmidt, De Villiers and Sainz, and externally, where Mitsubishi will be favourites once again. But armed with almost unrivalled experience in the field, a vehicle he knows like the back of his hand and, above all, an exemplary partnership with his co-driver Michel Perin, the 1993 Dakar winner has every intention of confirming his status and adding his name to the winners list for the second time.


Bruno Saby’s “Dakar” honours

1992 27th overall , Paris – Le Cap
1993 Winner, Paris-Dakar
1994 abandoned, Stage 11, Paris-Dakar-Paris
1995 2nd overall , Grenade-Dakar
1996 7th overall , Grenade-Dakar
1997 3rd overall , Dakar-Dakar
1998 3rd overall , Paris-Dakar
2000 7th overall , Dakar –Cairo (3rd in T3)
2001 13th overall , Paris-Dakar
2002 ab., Stage 8, Arras-Madrid-Dakar
2004 6th overall, Clermont-Ferrand - Dakar
2005 5th overall, Barcelona-Dakar


Co-driver: Michel PERIN (FRA)

- Triple-winner of the Dakar in 94-95-96 as Pierre Lartigue’s co-driver
- Five times winner of the all-terrain rally World Cup: 93,94,95,96 as Pierre Lartigue’s co-driver and 2005 as Bruno Saby’s co-driver
- Double French rally champion 89-90 as François Chatriot’s co-driver

NUMBER 520 – KAMAZ-MASTER
Firdaus Kabirov (RUS)
Aydar Belyaev (RUS) – Andrey Mokeev (RUS)

After almost 15 years of successful and loyal service to the Kamaz Team, Firdaus Kabirov finally tasted glory last year when he won his first Dakar. There was an element of luck about it, as up until Stage 7, it was his team-mate Tchaguine, the Russian manufacturer’s official leader, who looked to have things under control. But whereas “the Tsar” saw his 4th consecutive victory slip through his fingers when he ran out of fuel, his loyal lieutenant as always circumvented the pitfalls to bring Kamaz their 6th win on the rally, thereby equalising the record six successes of eternal rivals Tatra.

It was no more than was deserved by Kabirov, the real backbone of the Kamaz-Master Team. In fact, he was behind the original entry of Russian trucks in the Dakar and played an active part in the development process for their first participation in 1991. A key player in all of the Russian team’s sporting expeditions, Firdaus Kabirov took the wheel of one of the trucks in 1992, securing a first raid rally world cup victory in 1997.

This year again, Kabirov will be, along with Ilgizar Mardeev, one of the loyal lieutenants of “the Tsar” Tchaguine. But the Kamaz stable is safe in the knowledge that if their star driver falls by the wayside again, they can count on their “super-sub” to do his level best to take Kamaz to the top of the truck category honours list with 7 successes, one better than their traditional enemies Tatra.


His Euromilhoes – Dakar honours

1999 7th overall, Grenada – Dakar
2000 3rd overall, Dakar – Cairo
2001 abandoned Stage 9, Paris – Dakar
2003 3rd overall, Marseilles – Sharm El Sheik
2004 2nd overall, Clermont-Ferrand – Dakar
2005 1st overall, Barcelona - Dakar

NUMBER 216
Lorenzo Buratti

It’s not just about doing the Dakar. There’s the small matter of a whole history dating back to the embryonic hours of the rally and those images of sand-coated bikers repeatedly trying to kick-start their machines, worn-out riders floored by the fatigue of the stage and hours of frenzied mechanical tinkering. A rich history written by all these competitors, from the totally crazy to complete geniuses.

Lorenzo Buratti is on a one-man mission to turn them into heroes. In his mind’s eye, he has retained the most vivid images of these marvellous mobile eccentrics as he set about building his dream adventure. Last year, he entered and set off alone at the handlebars of an old Honda 400 XR, following in the footsteps of the rally pioneers. “The idea was to leave without assistance, with just my old grindstone, my tools and my bare hands, to relive the early days of the Dakar and see if I had the strength to do it the old way,” explains Lorenzo with tangible passion. He recalls his hours of hell, the nights spent on the bike, sandstorms lashing at his face, and the fatigue he had to fight with every day to get going again. Unfortunately, after ten stages, his bike gave up the ghost. Lorenzo, betrayed by mechanics that had reached their limits, therefore experienced the pain of abandonment, that bitter bolt from the blue which so many “Dakarists” know and dread.

But Lorenzo has still not digressed from his original philosophy and is setting off again this year on his old Honda, to relive the joy of pushing himself to the very limit, a process that constitutes the very essence of the Dakar: “When I reached Tichit, it was midnight and I had just spent 17 or 18 hours on my bike. I was utterly exhausted and could no longer see anything because of the sand whipped up by the wind which burned my eyes. I didn’t even know where I was going. Then all of a sudden, I saw the lights of the bivouac. I limped in like a zombie, convinced not only that I was last but also out of time. When I discovered that I was only the thirtieth rider to finish, I just couldn’t believe it. Curiously, it is this living hell that remains my finest memory.” The programme for the 2006 Dakar promises him plenty more.

Repsol is coming to the Dakar to win it. Sponsor of the Mitsubishi teams as well as the Spanish branch of KTM, the petrol company is directly involved in the battle for the leading places in both the car and bike categories. The resources deployed to allow the drivers to take part in the race are considerable and involve a great deal of energy, but as if the sporting matters were not sufficient to occupy the team, Repsol has set itself another objective for the rally: to furnish several hospitals located on the route with sufficient supplies of medication and equipment to last a year.

Begun at the last Dakar, the operation is benefiting from the experience of Doctor Mir, who is coordinating all of the action phases on the ground: from making contact with the hospitals and documenting their needs, to locating the equipment and organising transportation. “The first operation was a success. It centred on Chinguetti hospital, where we delivered enough equipment to keep them going for the whole year,” the Doc explains.

This year, the competitors from Team Repsol will be helping the hospitals in Nouakchott and Atar. In addition to numerous bandages, plasters and 25,000 doses of hepatitis B and meningitis vaccines, the team is also bringing some vital heavy equipment from Europe, such as incubators and electrocardiograms. In total, two of the Repsol assistance team trucks will carry this equipment and drop it off at the hospitals concerned. A fine sporting gesture if ever there was one!