NUMBER 314 – Schlesser-Ford
Jean-Louis Schlesser (FRA) – François Borsotto (FRA)

He’s a double winner of the Dakar, the first driver to triumph with a two-wheel drive vehicle and a five-time winner of the FIA all-terrain rally world cup: so what is it that makes Jean-Louis Schlesser keep on entering every year? Now aged 57, this former racing driver has won practically everything in the raid rally field, but since Mitsubishi tightened its grip on the Dakar, Jean-Louis Schlesser has been chomping at the bit. A born competitor who likes nothing better than a challenge, this former Williams F1 driver is not the type to concede defeat. And although this traditional craftsman is not necessarily competing on a level playing field with the official teams, he still manages to ruffle the feathers of Peterhansel, Alphand, Saby et al.

Since 2001 and the emergence of the Mitsubishis, “Jean-Louis la malice” has been battling manfully to compete with them. Like in the 2001 Dakar, for instance, when after copping an hour’s penalty for straying into a neutral zone, he fought like a lion to drag his two-wheel drive into 3rd place overall. His 2002 race ended in Morocco, but he completed the season with a fourth consecutive raid rally world title!

The last few years have been marked by a string of Dakar abandonments, with the exception of his 3rd place finish in 2004. His more or less extended appearances in the rally have wrongly led to him gaining a reputation as a “car-wrecker”, but they have also served to clarify the situation regarding the potential of his machines. In 2005, for example, Schlesser gained the upper hand over his rivals on the Zouerat –Tichit stage, before getting stuck at Fort de Gallaouya due to a mechanical problem. No one knows how much trouble he could have caused the big boys if his breakdown truck had not itself broken down.

To take his revenge on the “factories”, Schlesser has secured the services of another well-known buggy pilot, Thierry Magnaldi. At the wheel of two V8s which would not look out of place in “Mitsu” or “ VW” colours, the two men have but one mantra: attack, in order to win. Josep-Maria Servia, in the stable’s third car, will play the role of water-bearer.


Jean-Louis Schlesser’s Dakar honours

1996 14th overall, Grenada – Dakar (without co-driver)
1997 Abandoned, Dakar - Dakar
1998 5th overall, Paris – Grenada - Dakar
1999 Winner, Grenada - Dakar
2000 Winner, Dakar – Cairo
2001 3rd overall, Paris - Dakar
2002 Abandoned on Stage 6, Arras – Madrid - Dakar
2003 Abandoned on Stage 7, Marseilles – Sharm El Sheikh
2004 3rd, Clermont-Ferrand – Dakar
2005 Abandoned on Stage 7, Barcelona - Dakar


Co-driver: François BORSOTTO (FRA)

Highlights of his career

1985 French Interleague Cup – 1st
1986 French Endurance Champion 125 cc
1989 French Interclub Cup – 1st
1996 Paris Dakar 15th overall and 3rd in Marathon category
1998 4th overall in Moroccan Orpi Rally ( co-driver of Bruno Saby)
1999 French Dirt Rally Championship (Peugeot 206, co-driver of Thierry Magnaldi)
2000 Raid Rally World Cup, 2nd T1 in Mercedes (co-driver of Thierry Magnaldi)
2001 Raid Rally World Cup, 2nd T1 in Mercedes (co-driver of Thierry Magnaldi)
2002 Raid Rally World Cup, 1st production in Mercedes (co-driver of Thierry Magnaldi)
2003 Téléfonica-Dakar, 21st in Overall Ranking (co-driver of Andrea Mayer)
3rd overall in Moroccan Orpi Rally ( co-driver of Josep-Maria Servia)
2004 Téléfonica-Dakar, 19th in Overall Ranking (co-driver of Josep-Maria Servia)
Moroccan Orpi, winner of the 2-wheel drive category, 2nd overall (co-driver of J-L Schlesser)
Rallye d’Orient, winner of 2-wheel driver category, 2nd overall (co-driver of J-L Schlesser)

NUMBER 509 – LOPRAIS TATRA
Karel Loprais (RTC) - Petr Gilar (RTC) – Ales Loprais (RTC)

Record-holder for the most victories with six Dakar triumphs since 1988 (1988, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999 and 2001), Karel Loprais has written Dakar truck category legend. What’s more, until Peterhansel’s victory in 2004, the Czech was the sole holder of the record for the most wins in all categories. Quite rightly, these performances have earned him the title of best Czech driver of the 20th century.

But since 2001, Loprais has slipped out of the success spiral, coming home second in 2002, dropping out in 2003, finishing 7th in 2004 and quitting again in 2005. Enough, one might think, to prompt a repeat of his declaration at the finish of the 2004 rally when he raised the spectre of his withdrawal from the competition: “We intend to take part next year with rapid assistance. After twenty years of rallies, I am starting to get fed up of it. I don’t see it so much as an adventure these days, but more as a real pain. The competition doesn’t motivate me any more.”

But whether as a last hoorah or due to a devouring passion, this old fox is back at the start in Lisbon, once more in Tatra colours. And in view of his status and list of honours, he will be, like every year, one of the most serious challengers.


Karel Loprais’ “Dakar” honours

1987 2nd overall, Paris – Alger - Dakar
1988 1st overall, Paris – Alger - Dakar
1990 3rd overall, Paris - Tripoli – Dakar
1991 4th overall, Paris - Tripoli – Dakar
1992 3rd overall, Paris – Sirte – Le Cap
1994 1st overall, Paris – Dakar – Paris
1995 1st overall, Grenada – Dakar
1996 2nd overall, Grenada – Dakar
1997 abandoned, Dakar - Dakar
1998 1st overall, Paris – Grenada – Dakar
1999 1st overall, Grenada – Dakar
2000 2nd overall, Dakar – Cairo
2001 1st overall, Paris – Dakar
2002 2nd overall, Arras – Madrid – Dakar
2003 abandoned on Stage 7, Marseille – Sharm El Sheik
2004 7th overall, Auvergne Region – Dakar
2005 abandoned on Stage 11, Barcelona – Dakar

Simon Pavey is preparing to experience a Dakar unlike any other. With six participations so far, including a 40th place in the overall final ranking in 1998, this UK-based Australian can legitimately be regarded as an experienced rider. But for this 28th Dakar, he has been entrusted with an unusual role: that of a coach responsible for passing on his expertise to a novice, the actor Charley Boorman, with everything being filmed by a cameraman crazy enough to agree to shoot while driving, Matthew Hall.

The project is part of a documentary film for which Charley Boorman set off on a round-the-world bike trip with Ewan McGregor. After the arctic leg of the adventure, the backers wanted to organise a follow-up in the desert, which is when they turned to Simon Pavey: “Sky TV contacted me about the story of following a real Dakar novice in his daily travails. Charly Boorman is a biking fan, and my job has consisted of training him for a year so he’s ready for the start. On the Dakar, I will be his water-carrier with a single remit: to do whatever it takes to get him to the end.”

Used to abandoning himself to the delights of the dirt tracks and dunes, Simon will this time have to put his personal ambitions to one side and transfer his aims to his protégé, an exercise in self-sacrifice which holds no particular fear for him and which he is embracing as a new challenge: “I won’t be able to ride the bike for him, but I’ll be with him at all times, helping him deal with technical problems and pushing him to surpass himself and get himself out of tight fixes when he feels like he’s reached rock bottom.”

Pavey’s Dakar 2006 success will therefore be inextricably linked to the performance of Charley Boorman. In this respect, the coach is logically placing all his faith in the English actor: “He’s a determined sort of guy who has some real driving ability, but he’s not yet reached the standard of the kind of adventure he’s letting himself in for. I therefore believe that he’s going to come unstuck once or twice before he realises that he’s got to really give 100%. I think he’s got the ability to finish.” But the proof of the pudding will, of course, be in the eating.

NUMBER 67: TEAM ALSACE DAKAR
Patrice Grunewald

The Dakar would now have a whole new meaning. That much soon became obvious to Patrice Grunewald when he learned, last winter, that his elder son Lucas, aged nine, was suffering from a rare genetic disease: Friedreich’s Ataxis, a children’s illness that attacks the nervous system, causing balance and speech difficulties and limiting life expectancy to around thirty. After initially giving up his “Dakar project” while still reeling from the shock of it all, Patrice, an unassuming 39-year-old Alsace-region amateur, will now be lining up with the aim of overcoming his own biking fears in order to aid medical research, or more particularly the Freidreich’s Ataxis Support Foundation (A.C.C.A.F.) chaired by a doctor at Paris’s Necker hospital.

“When we found out about the illness, it was like a hammer blow,” Patrice recalls in a voice infused with emotion. For me, there was no question of going off on the Dakar; I just wanted to stay with my wife and kids… But then my pals from Team Alsace Dakar convinced me that courtesy of its media exposure, the rally could be extremely useful for raising general public awareness of the condition and collecting funds for medical research.” The local media soon came on board and the team’s activities (meals, regional fairs, T-shirt sales) have already enabled the collection of several thousand euros.

And although his first attempt at the Dakar in 2004 came to an abrupt end on the fringes of the Mauritanian desert, Patrice Grunewald, the boss of a Nissan Trucks dealership in the Strasbourg suburbs, appears more determined than ever to take his KTM onto the banks of the Lac Rose. In this way, he hopes to provide maximum help to the researchers whose work offers hope to some 1,500 children and adults in France afflicted by this terrible genetic illness.