“Just like the old days”

A large percentage of Dakar Classic participants have never taken part in a rally-raid before. For them it is a dream come true made possible by the creation of this new category. German born French resident Rainer Wissmanns however is coming to his second Dakar Classic from a completely different direction. He took part in several African raids before creating Team Cummins France with Patrick Sireyjol in 2008. The team raced in rallies in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco and then in 2010 Rainer competed in the 2010 Dakar as Sireyjol’s co-driver. That outing resulted in a 19th place and four years later he moved behind the steering wheel to drive a British built Bowler Wildcat and later a Toyota Overdrive. Then a crash in 2018 in Peru and the increasing complexity of competing at the top level in the car class on the Dakar put paid to his rally-raid ‘career’, or so he thought...

“I used to watch the Dakar go through Algeria when I was working there in the early 80s and it has been a passion for me ever since. To be honest I thought my Dakar days were over but that was before I started talking to Patrick (Sireyjol) who was the ‘opener’ for the inaugural 2021 Dakar Classic. Straight after that event he rang me to tell me it was the perfect event for me, just the right level of competition with a similar atmosphere to the first Dakars where everybody helped each other out. So Patrick and myself each went out and bought a couple of Toyota HDJ 80s and built a small team, just like the old days. He will be competing with Thierry Fresard and I’ll be teaming up with my partner Claire. She has been on a lot of races with me as assistance and we’ve taken part in different raids before and after our first Dakar Classic together she is keen to be my co-driver again. Last year the original idea was to share the driving but after the first day she realised how complex the co-driver’s job was and decided that’s what she wanted to do. She learned day by day and at the end of the event was close to perfection. After driving in Africa and South America we are looking forward to seeing more of what Saudi Arabia has to offer. Obviously we’d like to finish and not be last but the real goal is simply to share the experience.”