Dakar 2009: Edito

Hello broom wagon, hello sadness!
Let down by their machines or immobilised after a fall, competitors who do not require first aid often start learning how to deal with defeat with a long wait, remaining patient until the broom wagon picks them up. Its arrival means it is the end of the road for those who drop out of the race.

The aces of tricks and fixes
Competitors need superb endurance of course, and good driving skills naturally, but sometimes they also need to show a lot of imagination to continue on their way to the finishing line. As far as quick fixes are concerned, the mechanics on the Dakar have been faced with the unthinkable.

Volkswagen out to conquer America
Since 2004, Volkswagen has participated in the Dakar with the ambitious goal of winning the race with a diesel-powered vehicle. Although the Race Touareg has pulled off some fantastic performances, winning 10 of the 14 special stages on the 2007 Dakar for example, the VW drivers have not managed to go the distance against their Mitsubishi rivals in Africa. Carlos Sainz and Giniel De Villiers aim to set this right in South America.

Central Europe Rally: Sainz first
Less than three months after the Dakar was cancelled, the organisers poured tonnes of effort into offering a new challenge to their competitors, in Hungary and Romania. For the first of these events under the Dakar Series banner, Carlos Sainz managed to triumph over Peterhansel for the first time, just like David Casteu, who left both Coma and Despres in his wake.

A brand new Mitsubishi
The Mitsubishi Pajero saga draws to a close after 12 victories on the Dakar between 1985 and 2007. This year, the Japanese constructor is switching to diesel: Peterhansel and his team-mates will attempt to defend their title behind the wheel of a Lancer, designed and developed by an armada of technicians.

Pax Rally: advantage Peterhansel
The second of the Dakar Series races took place last September, over a 1,500-km route, including 830 km against the clock. The leading rally-raid specialists fought it out on Portugal’s tracks: Ruben Faria in the bike category and Stephane Peterhansel in the car category were the quickest.

On the trace…
On the Dakar, competitors’ safety is paramount. Bikes, quads, cars and trucks all need to use the tracks without danger. Technological tools like Sentinel, for avoiding dangerous overtaking, and Iritrack, for an overview of the situation for all the race vehicles, help to prevent accidents or warn the emergency services as quickly as possible.

Standing together yet worlds apart
The most demanding rally in the world is also the only one in which the best riders and drivers rub shoulders with amateurs. In addition to the difference in skill, there is also a difference in resources, making the challenge all the harder for those battling away at the back of the pack.

Women of the Dakar
In 1997, Jutta Kleinschmidt became the first woman to win a stage and capped her rise to success four years later by reaching the highest step on the finishing podium at Lac Rose. However, before her triumph, many women, from ordinary backgrounds or even princesses, have tried their luck on the world’s most demanding rally.

One on one
Victory on the Dakar has always been the reserve of outstanding sportsmen. It is most often achieved through a titanic but brotherly struggle. The rally’s history has been dotted with many duels such as Neveu-Auriol, Schlesser-Masuoka, DeRooy-Chagin, etc.

The PSA formula
Already a star of the traditional rally circuit, Ari Vatanen arrived on the Dakar in 1987. He earned his nickname of the “Flying Finn” behind the wheel of a Peugeot 205. Assisted by Kankunnen, in 1991 he completed the winning run for PSA, with a victory in a Citroen ZX. The double arrowhead brand triumphed again 1994, 1995 and 1996 with a hat-trick from Lartigue.

Strange machines
On the Dakar, spectators get to se the most elaborate 4x4s, but the rally’s history has seen many crazy contestants intent on making the challenge harder by trying to cross the Saharan dunes behind the wheel of a Citroen 2CV, Rolls-Royce, Renault 4L or even a Jaguar.

Life on a quad
After the stage is over, sometimes a quad-rider’s day carries on, with a small detour for mechanical revisions and a quick visit to the doctor often necessary before getting their heads down for a well-earned rest.

Bowled over!
They often deal better with the dunes than the riders or drivers, but halts to their progress can often be longer for trucks that tip over on the sand. To get these huge machines back on track, the contestants are nonetheless used to having a helping hand. Here is an example.

Overdose on dunes
They come to the rally for the dunes, but sometimes choke on the sand. On the 1994 Paris-Dakar-Paris, the crews, including the most experienced, were forced to get out the spades and dig out the vehicles almost constantly, in a part of the Sahara now nicknamed “the impossible erg”.

Objective Tichit
In the collective memory of the Dakar, the Zouerat-Tichit stage has a special place. In the 2005 edition, the weather was especially inclement in Mauritania. The wind had softened up the sand in all the ergs that had to be crossed. For many contestants, this is where there adventure became a nightmare.

Stuck!
Crossing the dunes is an art which has its limits. Even the most skilled experts sometimes hit a wall of sand oh-so-difficult to negotiate. Even with a name like Jean-Pierre Fontenay, a former Dakar winner, you can get stuck for hours: it even happened during recon!

Hell on two wheels
It would be such a shame to stop the adventure just for a flat tyre. Faced with this frustration, riders always need the force of character to persevere in conditions that are now and again over the top. But sometimes, lady luck is on their side…

Paris-Dakar, Act I
On 26th December 1978, on the place du Trocadéro, 178 vehicles got to grips with the first Paris-Dakar rally. For most of these pioneers led by Thierry Sabine, discovering Africa also meant confronting sandstorms, dunes, etc.

Like father, like son
A Dakar regular, Antoine Morel shares his passion for quads with his son. In 2006, he took Alan, who was 18 years old at the time, to take part in the hardest rally in the world. To make sure Alan’s apprenticeship didn’t come to a sorry end, he had to keep the young rider’s enthusiasm in check.

Waiting for the ferry…
Sometimes the Dakar has to deal with the unpredictable. On the Paris-Cape rally in 1992, the caravan ground to a halt on the banks of a flooded river, in the middle of Angola. To get past the obstacle, all sorts of solutions had to be examined…

Writing the bible
The main mission of the recon teams is to write the road-book that the riders, drivers and co-pilots will use during the race. To record and transcribe all the data featured in the “bible” for each stage, David Castera relies in particular on specialist software.

Jacks of all trades
As well as the physical strains of competing on two wheels, the riders also have to navigate for themselves. These ‘handle-bar heroes’ must also read the road-book at lightning speed to make sure they do not lose their way…

David Castera: “Very spectacular”
The event’s sports director, David Castera, has reconnoitred the rally route in-depth. Here, he talks about the general balance of the race, its technical finery and also gives his impressions on the finest “spots” in the Andes chain.

Recon with Thierry Sabine
To prepare the Paris-Dakar in 1980, Thierry Sabine set off as a scout on Africa’s roads, with a programme of getting stuck in the mud on wet, rutted tracks behind the wheel of an astonishing Citroen CX and a menu of tinned sardines and tuna.

The other Dakar country
Fir the first time in the history of the Dakar, Dutch competitors will make up the second strongest delegation on the rally in terms of numbers, behind the French and especially in front of the Spanish. The 2 quads, 31 bikes, 16 cars and 18 trucks involved all met up for a super-special just for pleasure's sake in front of more than 15,000 spectators at Valkenswaard, on 8th November…

The guide to scrutineering
On 26th and 27th November, the European competitors stopped off in Le Havre, before driving their vehicles on board the boat to Buenos Aires, for scrutineering, a series of formalities essential for a race in total peace of mind.

A loop of dreams
The 31st Dakar will set off from the foot of the obelisk in Buenos Aires, on the Avenue of 9th July. The route will then take the contestants through the Pampa, in Patagonia, before passing into Chile once the Andes have been crossed. It is here that they will get to grips with the Atacama Desert. All in all, it is an array of admirable landscapes…

When Etienne Lavigne discovered America…
Different terrains meant different constraints and it was during recon several months before the rally that Etienne Lavigne and his teams drew up the route for the Dakar. In Argentina and Chile, the race director presented a preview of the new landscapes… and a new way of working.