2CVs in his genes

Dakar 2025 | Stage 6 | HAIL > AL DUWADIMI
January 10 ^th 2025 - 21:17 [GMT + 3]

The 2CV fascination bug has struck again. Following Czech drivers Barbara Holicka and Lucie Engova, who drove a multicoloured specimen to the finish in 2024 and are doing likewise this year, the Dutch duo made up of Floris De Raadt and David Kann named ‘Team 2 Chameaux’ are behind the wheel of another. Their model dates from 1968 and the Saudi sands are proving to be no problem for it.

Floris De Raadt has never tried to fight his destiny, quite the contrary. On 17th January 1967 (he will be celebrating his 58th birthday on the day of the finish in Shubaytah!), his parents avoided an impromptu birth in the Citroën 2CV in which they were hurrying to the hospital. It is clear that the young Floris inherited both his father’s passion for all things 2CV and being a dab hand behind a steering wheel. From the very first jaunts back in his engineering school days, the Dutchman, who has settled in Switzerland, began to explore the limits of his little French car: “All my friends had Golf GTIs, but they couldn’t keep up with me on winding roads. With its slim silhouette, I was able to slide through the bends with the utmost precision”. After racking up hours of mechanical work and rallies in countless 2CVs, he and his old friend David Kann came up with the crazy idea of taking part in the Dakar Classic: “We have the oldest car on the Dakar – it was made in 1968 - but in the end it’s doing just fine,” laughed the co-pilot.

 However, due to a number of setbacks even before the rally’s start, at the beginning of the duo’s adventure the challenge did not seem to be such a fun idea. “Even just the journey to Barcelona was eventful, because the car wasn’t ready,” explained David. “When we collected it in Jeddah, it had a fuel pump problem and on the way to Bisha we broke down seven or eight times over a distance of 500 kilometres. We worked on it by the roadside and, finally, the last little adjustment we tried did the trick for the car… it must have understood that things were getting very serious at that point. Now it’s doing wonderfully, it’s almost a miracle, and each day it’s getting a little better”.

Without being boastful, Floris takes pleasure in reproducing the driving skills of his youth in the contest with his fellow Dakar Classic drivers: “We’re really enjoying driving at full throttle. It’s not really fast, but it’s quick enough to overtake a lot of other cars. Their jaws drop when they see us passing them, they just can’t understand it. That said, it’s clear that on climbs or on very soft sand, we aren’t at our best, but in the wadis or very tricky parts, we’re very comfortable”. Their gamble hasn’t entirely paid off, however, because their trusty old steed still has still had a few technical problems and the day off at Ha’il was devoted to a thorough overhaul. “The suspension is completely dead. We only have a pair of spare parts, so it’s getting quite tricky,” said David, without over-dramatizing. “That said, there are plenty of people who have helped us, including Nasser Al Attiyah, who lent us a tool we needed”. With the blessing of the Qatari five times winner of the vent, the milk chocolate-coloured 2CV has every chance of reaching Shubaytah.