The return of a legend

Dakar 2026 | Stage 9 | WADI AD DAWASIR > BIVOUAC REFUGE
January 13 ^th 2026 - 10:58 [GMT + 3]

Twenty years after his last appearance on the Dakar, the winner of the 1993 edition has come back to get his teeth stuck into what the desert has to offer at the wheel of a Taurus Evo Max, for a race that is very different from when he won it driving his official Mitsubishi Pajero.

 At the age of almost 77 years, Bruno Saby has lost nothing of his passion for motorsport, nor of his love for the Dakar. Regarding this race in which he participated fourteen times between 1992 and 2007, the man from Grenoble decided to take another taste of it this year to help Alexandre Giroud to find partners, to assist Benjamin Boulloud in gaining navigation experience in the rally-raid discipline but also to relive the unique adventure that the Dakar offers to its participants.

On Monday evening, the crew of Taurus number 328 arrived at the finishing line in Wadi Ad Dawasir late in the day and covered in dust. Bruno Saby struggled to remember such a complicated day in forty years of motor racing. “We had a crash at the start of the special with de Soultrait,” said the only French driver to have won the three legendary races that are the Dakar, the Monte Carlo Rally and Tour of Corsica. “We had to change the front wheel axle unit but since we didn’t have the spare parts to do it, we had to wait for our assistance team, which meant we had to drive 200 kilometres through the night in the dust… It wasn’t fun for the navigation but you just have to deal with it. I knew it would be complicated because I remember that you could never avoid mishaps on the Dakar, so I’m not surprised”.

Experiencing this race differently is a learning experience for the former rally winner. “When you’re at the bottom of the rankings, you suffer,” he said. “In fifteen years of taking part in the Dakar, I never experienced that and I’m thankful to have been able to win it. There's something for everyone in this race and all the competitors really deserve credit. At the forefront, you have to push all the time and be extremely careful because danger can strike quickly. At the back, you have to accept everything that the toughest rally in the world throws at you. It’s fifteen days of extreme racing. It’s difficult but that’s why we like it. I finished all the editions of the Dakar in which I took part as a factory driver. Well, we’ll finish this one too, even if we have to suffer every day”. Alongside him, Benjamin Boulloud does not hide his admiration for the driver from Grenoble. “Taking part in my second Dakar with a legend like Bruno is an honour,” says the man from Isère, who has more than two hundred road rallies to his credit, including around thirty WRC events. “To come back like this twenty years later is impressive. We are learning a lot about ourselves”. In spite of the difficulties, Bruno Saby promises he is having fun with his SSV. “It’s a brilliant machine and great fun,” he says. “That’s why, even if we’re suffering and its tricky, I don’t regret a thing”. In conclusion, as he leaves for the bivouac, he says: “After this, we won't be able to complain for the rest of our lives”.