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Yanbu (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) – Stéphane Peterhansel may well be nicknamed “Monsieur Dakar” in reference to his record of 14 victories in this rally-raid, the Frenchman, 57, approaches from Saturday the 45th edition, the 34th for him, “a little in the unknown” in terms of competitiveness at the wheel of a hybrid-powered Audi.
He also has to adapt to the absence of engine noise, except for the acceleration phase: “When you slow down or brake, the noise of the engine going down in speed is not there. It therefore has the brain had to get used to all that.
QUESTION: How do you feel before this 45th edition?
ANSWER: “The closer we get to the start, the more excitement there is mixed with a bit of stress all the same because things can go wrong from the start of the race. We are quite confident in our preparation on the vehicle side, we did everything necessary to make it progress and make it more reliable. In terms of noise, it’s disturbing at first because you hear the sound of an engine accelerating –to charge the batteries–, but when you slow down or brake, the noise of the engine going down in revs is not there. So the brain had to get used to all that, we are a little tuned now. In terms of competitiveness, we are a bit in the unknown. We have a regulation, we try to exploit it to the maximum of what we can do and then we will see if the electric technology is better than the traditional car”.
Q: Will the dune ocean of the Empty Quarter in the second week be the key to this Dakar?
A: “The Dakar is often full of surprises. In the most basic stages, sometimes a lot of things happen and there are twists and turns, sometimes the stages that we expect are extremely selective, hard, trying, that can pass like a letter in the post. My feeling is that in the first part, with long stages, a bit of mountains, canyons, there is a risk of cleaning up, already gaps, we will see more clear from the first week and then who will be in the lead will have to resist in the Empty quarter but I am not sure that the Empty Quarter faces big differences”.
Q: After so many races won and continents covered, what still excites you?
A: “The Dakar is a race that was cut out for what I love: the adrenaline of speed and motor sports on the one hand, nature and wide open spaces on the other. Thanks to the Dakar, we have seen the most beautiful landscapes in the world in my opinion, Africa, Ténéré (in the Sahara, editor’s note), South America for 10 years, now here. I have been a competitor since very young, so all that makes it more of a racing passion than a real job. Of course, we do it as professionally as possible, we have responsibilities vis-à-vis the manufacturers. I should have stopped a long time ago, but it can be boring to go back to more When we +do+ a Dakar, we are so involved in it, it gives us emotions of joy, distress, disappointment, it’s so intense that when we return to standard life, we find everything much more bland , and therefore to be able to continue despite the years, it’s a chance”.
Interview by Anne-Sophie LABADIE
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