2023-12-30 08:01:00
Aboard their two-wheel drive buggy, they aim to play the leading roles.
Loïc Minaudier, 36, is six days away from the start of the 2024 Dakar which will take place from January 5 to 19 in Saudi Arabia. This Sunday, he will join the Serradori Racing team (SRT) in Fréjus, in the Var, and driver Mathieu Serradori. Both team up for the third consecutive time aboard the Century Racing CR6 two-wheel drive buggy.
This will be Saint-Affricain’s ninth participation in the Dakar, he has finished them all, and the ninth also for the Varois. “We will work on the final details and the race regulations,” explains Loïc Minaudier. Monday January 1, the team will fly to Marseille, direction Paris, then Saudi Arabia. The support team of mechanics and drivers are flying today to collect the support trucks in Saudi Arabia.
Fear for the weather
On Tuesday January 2, Loïc Minaudier and Mathieu Serradori will test on site with their buggy. The days of Wednesday January 3 and Thursday January 4 will be devoted to the general briefing. The race itself will begin on Friday January 5, in Alula, with the prologue. But one point that catches Loïc Minaudier’s attention is the weather which is “really bad at the moment on site with floods and hail. The weather forecast for January 1st to 6th doesn’t look very good. These are difficult parameters for everyone, but especially for the assistance and the mechanics who will work at night.”
“First experience the adventure”
At the 2023 Dakar, in Saudi Arabia, the crew finished 3rd in the two-wheel drive category (T1.2) and 12th overall in the car category. “When a private driver performs among the factory teams, we are even more monitored, analyzes Loïc Minaudier. We must be very vigilant about the regulations, down to the comma. We will do everything to be where we are expected. It’s first of all living the adventure. We’ll have to rehearse our ranges and what we know how to do. We’re lucky that the race today has good sporting fairness. I think that’s a point which makes us even more motivated.”
“We know very well that the first week will be very hard. The boss of the Dakar declared that his objective was to continue even more in the DNA of the Dakar. He recognized that the first week would be difficult and full of surprises with this famous 48-hour stage where lots of things will happen.” All competitors will start from Shubaytah for two days, without assistance, in the Empty Quarter desert with 100% dunes and 626 km of timed special. “We are going to be in the thick of things from the start,” underlines Loïc Minaudier. “We will have to be in the rhythm and avoid all these traps. The Dakar is quickly lost.”
Limit errors
“The hardest race in the Dakar is the one against yourself. The best crews and the most rewards are those who make the smallest mistakes. We know very well that no day or no stage is easy. We can’t afford to take things lightly. It’s up to us to be very intelligent because the pace of the first days often knocks a lot of people out. I think that with Mathieu, our experience should allow us to channel everything that, the enthusiasm, the management of the material and the unforeseen parameters.”
After months of preparation, the crew is impatient to go out and fully experience this new adventure. “On the moral side, everything is good,” confides the Saint-Affricain. “On the mechanical side, we’re knocking on wood, because the whole team did what was necessary. As for my role as co-driver, it’s to find the right path in the desert. I have to be the leader of the car. rally-raid, the driver knows how to go fast. But without our joint work, he cannot go fast. We must be in harmony, in fusion. We have worked on all of this.”
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