“If I reach the finish line, that will already be a victory”
Crew facts
V.F.
- Vic Flip is a Dakar rookie for the 2026 edition, making her first appearance on the rally.
- She comes from an amateur rally and off-road background, with a focus on navigation and endurance rather than pure performance.
- Outside rally-raid, she has a full-time job, making Dakar preparation more demanding in terms of time and energy.
- For her first Dakar, her approach is realistic centred on finishing, learning and gaining experience.
S.H.
- Stefan Henken has extensive Dakar experience, mainly in the Truck category, where he competed from 2017 to 2022 as both driver and navigator, with several Top 15 finishes.
- He later moved to T3, navigating for Lukas Lauda in 2024 (15th) and in international events such as Baja Espana, the Rallye du Maroc and the Dubai International Baja.
- He has also worked on the technical side: team assistance with South Racing in 2023, team management responsibilities, and multiple wins in German Bajas between 2014 and 2017.
- For Dakar 2026, his ninth Dakar, he was initially supposed to serve as team manager but stepped in as Vic Flip’s co-driver after her usual navigator decided not to start due to lack of Dakar experience.
Ambition
V.F.
“My main goal for this first Dakar is simply to make it to the finish. Before this Dakar, my preparation was mainly about learning, and yes, flipping over a few times along the way. I come from an amateur rally and off-road background, with experience focused much more on navigation and endurance than on chasing results. I also have a full-time job alongside racing, which makes preparing for the Dakar even more challenging, but also more rewarding. I’m very realistic about this Dakar: for me, it’s about survival, learning, and enjoying the experience. If I reach the finish line, that will already be a victory.”
“My main goal for this first Dakar is simply to make it to the finish. Before this Dakar, my preparation was mainly about learning, and yes, flipping over a few times along the way. I come from an amateur rally and off-road background, with experience focused much more on navigation and endurance than on chasing results. I also have a full-time job alongside racing, which makes preparing for the Dakar even more challenging, but also more rewarding. I’m very realistic about this Dakar: for me, it’s about survival, learning, and enjoying the experience. If I reach the finish line, that will already be a victory.”
S.H.
“I met Vic recently, and that’s how all of this started. I was supposed to be the team manager this year. Her usual co-driver, the one who trains with her, decided not to go to Dakar because he has no experience of the race. So, she asked me to step into the car, and that is how I ended up co-driving again. For my eighth Dakar, the goal stays the same as always: finish the rally. There isn’t much more to say before the start. We will see on the Dakar how things go, how we work together and what happens day by day. For now, I am simply happy to be back inside the car and doing the co-driving job again. At the same time, it would also be great to keep a part of the team manager role, because it was a dream of mine to do that at least once. But being a co-pilot again is very nice, and I’m looking forward to it.”
“I met Vic recently, and that’s how all of this started. I was supposed to be the team manager this year. Her usual co-driver, the one who trains with her, decided not to go to Dakar because he has no experience of the race. So, she asked me to step into the car, and that is how I ended up co-driving again. For my eighth Dakar, the goal stays the same as always: finish the rally. There isn’t much more to say before the start. We will see on the Dakar how things go, how we work together and what happens day by day. For now, I am simply happy to be back inside the car and doing the co-driving job again. At the same time, it would also be great to keep a part of the team manager role, because it was a dream of mine to do that at least once. But being a co-pilot again is very nice, and I’m looking forward to it.”
