Team Audi Sport Remains Motivated For The Second Half Of The Dakar Rally

• Strong contrast of competitiveness and severe disappointments
• High motivation in the team despite setbacks for all driver teams
• Tough second half of the rally expected after the rest day

For Team Audi Sport, the first half of the 2023 Dakar Rally was an emotionally intense mix: Two stage wins and the first three days of leadership for the Audi RS Q e-tron in the toughest rally in the world are offset by setbacks for all three driver teams. Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist led in Saudi Arabia after the prologue, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz on the two following days. However, various damages on the tough stages threw them back a long way. Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger were in second place after the fourth special stage, but dropped out two days later due to an accident.

The 2023 Dakar Rally surprised the participants with great severity and caused a lot of turbulence in the classification. Rocky tracks after the prologue led to 14 tire damage on four stages in a row in the Audi Sport team from New Year’s Day, spread over all three Audi RS Q e-tron . Sections with camel grass burdened the rally cars and their crews with strong compressions and thus high loads on the fifth stage. And finally, rain not only made for unexpectedly hard sand, but also forced a change of route. Because of a flooded bivouac site, the organizers put in a half-marathon stage with a modified route and limited service before the rest day on January 9th.

At this point, start number 204 was no longer in the race. Dakar record winner Stéphane Peterhansel had an accident on the sixth stage on a dune, where he landed extremely hard after a jump. His co-driver Edouard Boulanger then complained of back pain. A helicopter took him to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed a spinal injury. Audi later had him flown out to specialists in Germany. “In this way, we enable Edouard to receive optimal care. Fortunately, no permanent damage is to be expected,” says Rolf Michl, Head of Motorsport at Audi. “The entire Audi Sport team wishes him a speedy recovery.” Stéphane Peterhansel: “I don’t remember the accident anymore, the landing was so hard. I’m glad Edouard doesn’t have any serious injuries.”

Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz tore their left front wheel off at the same point on landing. The three-time Dakar winners fell far behind due to the repair and 18-hour penalty. The following day, Sainz stopped and lost more hours to help teammate Ekstrom with a damaged suspension. Before the rest day, the two Spaniards are 116th overall. “We were lucky that nothing worse happened to us in the accident at this treacherous spot,” said Sainz. “It went without saying that we, in our position, would help Mattias with the repairs the next day.” Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist lost 15 minutes at the beginning due to a missed waypoint. An unseen stone in a fast passage caused a rear left suspension fracture on the seventh stage, the next day the cooling system was damaged. The two Scandinavians are currently the best-placed Audi team in 39th place. “When we didn’t always trust the information in the road book, as we did on the sixth stage, we adjusted our pace,” says Mattias Ekström looking back. “After seven days of rallying we were in fifth place, but the invisible stone and the broken suspension set us back significantly.”

“Of course, that’s not the course we had hoped for,” said Rolf Michl. “However, with nine top 3 daily results over more than 3,000 stage kilometers, we have shown that the Audi RS Q e-tronis absolutely competitive with its low-emission drive. Our goal is therefore to continue to achieve first-class daily results.” Uwe Breuling, Head of Vehicle Operations, refers to the unified team effort: “Even if the setbacks dampen the mood, nobody was discouraged. The Audi Sport team continues to work with Q Motorsport in a concentrated manner on preparing our two cars optimally every day, using all the learning effects and finally reaching the rally goal.” of the rally: “When teams as experienced as Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger and Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz experience setbacks like this, it says a lot about the level of difficulty. Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist also had to take a lot. But we weren’t the only ones disappointed. Day after day, many positions in the top flight shifted, which shows how tough this edition is. Now it is important to stay focused because we still have several tough desert stages in the Empty Quarter and a total of another 1,300 stage kilometers ahead of us.”

Source – Audi