This Monday marked the rest day for the pilots and co-pilots of the Dakar. A well-deserved break for participants who have now completed half of the course. A day which is however not easy for their mechanics. The latter took the opportunity to disassemble the vehicles and modify a few settings before a week of sand.
The rally-raid started on December 31 on the Red Sea with 790 competitors on the starting line. At least 72 are now missing from the board, including some of the favourites. Briton Sam Sunderland (GasGas), defending champion, was the first to retire after a crash, followed by American Ricky Brabec (Honda).
As for the cars, Stéphane Peterhansel, “Monsieur Dakar” 14 times crowned behind a steering wheel and handlebars, left the adventure on Friday with his injured co-driver Edouard Boulanger, two days after the withdrawal of outsiders Orlando Terranova / Alex Haro Bravo (Prodrive ).
“A longer, more difficult Dakar”
“It’s a longer, more difficult Dakar, with more kilometers and more dunes”, had warned the director of the rally-raid, David Castera, who engaged in a balancing act by concocting an eclectic route to please both professionals and their high-performance cars and amateurs who make up the majority of competitors.
“Compared to last year so far, all the stages have been as hard or even harder. Much more hilly, more rough roads, off-road and rocks”, confirms Toyota driver Henk Lategan.
The South African is currently second on a surprise podium on which neither Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive), second last year but 4th today, nearly 2:00 a.m. behind leader Nasser Al-Attiyah, nor Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive) appear. , winner of the Morocco rally last October, and more than 05:00 in the standings.
A fifth title seems acquired for Al-Attiyah. Behind him Loeb says he will “fight for the podium”, and Chicherit as his co-driver Alex Winocq says, will “dash and dash to win the most stages and score points for the world championship”.
Motorcycle density
On the other hand, the competition is very tight in motorcycling. “We are a lot” in the leading pack, eight bikers who are held in less than 8 minutes, “it’s really dense”, comments Adrien Van Beveren.
He is 6th and “where you need to be to believe in a potential victory”, says the 32-year-old Honda driver, who is “looking forward to do battle” for this second week in the Empty Quarter desert. The stages will be shorter but the race against the clock and the weather will continue to carry their share of risks, the subject of many debates at the bivouac.
Are first-week crashes related to car performance? “As we reduced the power compared to last year and there was then no particular subject, I am not sure what it is on this side that we should look”, estimates Jérôme Roussel, of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
“What is certain is that this year the terrain is different with the rain which has made the sand very hard and in the event of an impact there is no damping”, he says, referring to rather “the commitment of the pilots to make times this year higher” than 2022.
Competitors “fuses”
Peterhansel explained that he stumbled on a smooth dune. “When the organizers pass at 60 km/h for reconnaissance, the car stays on the wheels, but at 120 or 140, you fly”, he said, however assuming responsibility for the accident.
“Big impacts”, there were “a lot”, too many”, according to the Audi hybrid driver, “and all the drivers complained about it. The cars are so solid that it is the people inside who serve as fuses”, assured the champion who said he lost consciousness for five minutes after the impact. Joan Barreda, Erik Van Loon, Chicherit also lost consciousness after a shock, some resuming the race without having seen a doctor.
A written medical protocol is provided for concussions in the texts of the Motorcycle Federation (FIM), not in those of the FIA.
Rally-raid is not like rugby, says Jérôme Roussel. “When two guys put a stamp on each other, you see it. Here, sometimes guys break things and don’t say it. When you have so many competitors, you don’t have a unity of place or unit of time, you cannot control them”.