“We have unfinished business with the Dakar”

November 20 ^th 2019 - 13:04 [GMT + 3]

M.W.: “About an hour after our engine failure in 2018, our team made the decision to come back again. We were all sitting together in a Bolivian restaurant by the liaison track, eating hot soup, and we made a promise to come back and fight for the finish line. So we're back, with the same car and the same team, to write the second chapter of the story. We've built ourselves a more reliable engine and we're confident of doing a better job this time. BFGoodrich are still supporting us on site, as is Nani Roma. We have unfinished business with the Dakar! Last year we had a break because the rally was held in only in Peru. But Saudi Arabia is a whole new country, and the Dakar is about travelling, seeing different people and different landscapes. We did a test in Morocco in March, to get a bit more experience in the dunes, and we also raced Baja Poland. We had one minor electrical problem there but it was the only issue we had, otherwise the car feels great. The engine has more torque, it's more powerful and reliable. We have the same team as two years ago and we always have a lot of fun. There's a great team spirit -I couldn't imagine a better team. There are only five of us, so the challenge is simply to get to the finish line. In 2018 we didn't even look at the results, just managed things day by day, but when we abandoned we were 40th out of 109 starters. If you do a consistent job at the Dakar you also get a successful result. But for us it's impossible to win or get in the top 10. The team is too small, the car is too slow, the driver is too slow! But it's a great adventure and a real challenge.”