Stéphane Peterhansel: “We’re not putting a knife to our own throats”

Dakar 2022 | Stage 3 | AL DUWADIMI > AL SALAMIYA
January 4 ^th 2022 - 17:47 [GMT + 3]

Peter, third on the day’s special, is gaining an increasing grasp of the performances of his Audi with every passing day.

“We shouldn’t get carried away. We’re trying to drive as fast as possible, without taking any risks. We are not aiming for overall victory, so we have a different focus. We’re driving at a good pace to judge our level, but we’re not putting a knife to our own throats. It was a good stage for us. Carlos was quick again with more or less the same gaps as yesterday. It was quite rough and there were plenty of dunes with camel grass, which we aren’t used to anymore. We did no races at all last year and my neck feels sore plus my head feels shook up. You have to get used to putting yourself and the car to the test. Each day we’re discovering how the Audi performs in relation to the competition depending on the terrain that we cross. Today, we were on wet and heavy sand with places where there were long straight lines. We were a bit worried about the car’s range on those portions, but for the moment it is handling well. By the end of the rally, we’ll have discovered plenty of new things”.