“For sure the target is the podium”

Jakub 'Kuba' Przygonski has been one of the most consistent performers in the cars in recent editions, and the Pole is determined to conquer his first Dakar podium in 2023. After coming sixth last year in a Mini Buggy that couldn’t quite match the T1+ cars, the 37-year-old has now stepped up to the fastest category, and will be hoping his new Mini JCW Plus can help him take the fight to Toyota, Prodrive and Audi. Having raced the first three Saudi Dakars in the company of Timo Gottschalk, he also has a new co-driver in the shape of Armand Monleon. Kuba and Armand both began their rally-raid careers in the bikes and became good friends during their time on two wheels. They believe their shared background will be an added bonus when it comes to navigation, in what is tipped to be a particularly challenging 45th edition. After two years as an SSV co-driver for Gerard Farres, Armand guided Lucio Alvarez to 18th place in the cars at Dakar 2022, and was happy with the way he adapted to the pace of the T1s. He and Kuba already had a chance to race together at the recent Rallye du Maroc, taking a solid sixth place overall, and both men are quietly confident that they can build a successful partnership. Kuba is one of the most talented athletes in Polish motorsport, with five national drift titles and an FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies crown to his name. Having finished in the top seven in five of the past six editions, he is ready to finally stand on that overall Dakar podium in Dammam.

J.P.: “We'll go to Dakar 2023 with a new Mini T1+. It's a completely new car with bigger wheels, a new suspension setup, everything is different. We're really looking forward to the Dakar because it’ll be our first time with this car, and we'll be able to see its potential compared to the others. For sure the target for the Dakar is the podium, because we have a really good new car, and we'll try to keep pushing from the beginning. This year I'll go with a new co-driver, Armand Monleon. He's Spanish, he's my age, we used to race together in the bikes. It's nice, because we feel the navigation like it was in the bikes, I think we have the same style of navigation. I finished fourth in the World Rally-Raid Championship, and for sure it was a good result. It could have been better, but we had some issues in Abu Dhabi. In the end it was ok. We didn't have bigger expectations because we didn't race the whole championship, we missed the Andalucia Rally. Dakar 2023 will be longer, and those two extra days will make a big difference, because something can happen every day on the Dakar. For sure it'll be tougher. The top crews are used to opening, so they know the terrain of Saudi Arabia better, they can find harder tracks to drive. But tough navigation is also nice! I really can't wait for this rally.”

A.M.: “The experience in the T1 class with Lucio at Dakar 2022 was really good. We've got a good relationship inside and outside the car, we're good friends, and we did a really good championship beforehand. Lucio had a lot of confidence in my navigation, and I was able to adapt to the T1 speeds, which is way different from T3-T4s. With Kuba I'm really confident because we both come from motorbikes, and we were already good friends before this project. A few years ago we were racing together in the bikes class, but more than that, Kuba was living really close to my place for a few months because we were training together. At that moment we became really close friends, and of course we've kept up that relationship. Now our paths have finally crossed again, and we can work together. It's really cool to work with a good friend who speaks the same language and understands the pace and navigation in the same way. It makes a big difference when both the driver and co-driver know how to navigate, because it means you can anticipate a lot and the car never slows down. Our first race was in Morocco, and it was really cool to see that our relationship from the motorbike years was still going strong.”