St Bernards of the Dakar
You’ve probably never heard of them and they are unlikely to feature at the top of any results sheets but they are nevertheless an essential part of the Dakar ecosystem. Entered aboard a MAN truck Armando, Sebastien and Luc aren’t racing in the strict sense of the term. Instead they are carrying spares for 7 or 8 different teams that started the day ahead of them. And because they are entered in the race they, unlike ‘normal’ assistance vehicles that drive from bivouac to bivouac, are allowed to help their ‘customers’ during the special, give them spares and fixing their vehicles. Roughly speaking there’s two kinds of rapid assistance on the Dakar, those working uniquely for one top team like No 553’s fellow Boucou truck crew who are there ‘just’ to help Audi, and others that are there to assist multiple amateur teams with less ambition as far as the overall results are concerned. Above all what the privateers want to do is finish and this is where the Armando and his friends make all the difference, their intervention allowing their clients to reach the next bivouac by the official route and therefore to remain in the classifications.
Vehicle
TEAM BOUCOU
MAN TGA
TEAM BOUCOU
- Mark MAN
- Model TGA
- Performance tuner Team Boucou
- Assistance Team Boucou
- Class T5.1: Prototype Cross-Country Trucks
Ranking 2023
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