Stéphane Peterhansel: "This means I've still got a shot at beating Vatanen"

Dakar 2024 | Stage 2 | BISHA > BISHA
January 7 ^th 2024 - 16:53 [GMT + 3]

"Peter" edged out Sébastien Loeb by 29 seconds to conquer his 50th Dakar special in the car category, which brings his total (including motorbike specials) to 83.

"The bar was very low because yesterday was an absolute disaster. Today, we set a decent time and had fun in the cockpit, with nice tracks and dunes in the morning. No flats today, no navigation blunders either, so it was a good stage. Yesterday was a downer because I was unable to figure out how to drive on stones. It was a peculiar stage and everything came out wrong… but, as [Pierre] Lartigue said a long time ago, Dakar is still far away. I'm not really keeping count of the stages, I knew I was mano a mano with Vatanen, but I had no clue whether I'd already surpassed him! Keep in mind that he won as many stages as I have, but in a shorter span. He's a legend. Back when he raced in the Dakar, he used to take stage wins and the overall like nobody's business… but this means I've still got a shot at beating him."