Al-Attiyah: “Giving victory to Toyota”

Accompanied by his faithful navigator Mathieu Baumel, the Qatari is aiming for a third success at the Dakar and the first for the Japanese manufacturer.

Published on 07/01/2019 à 12:58

⁰ View comments)

If the French media have widely covered the return of Sébastien Loeb as private pilot or the massive transfer of the trio Despres-Peterhansel-Sainz chez Mini pour le Dakar 2019 (7-17 janvier), un favori reste bien discret. Il s’agit de Nasser Al-Attiyah, et pour cause. Le Qatari est l’un des rares challengers à ne pas avoir changé d’équipe en cours d’année dernière et poursuit son bail avec Toyota.

The double winner of the Dakar (in 2011 and 2015) remains on an upward slope, he who won the Rallye du Maroc in October ahead of the Minis. “Morocco gave us a huge dose of confidence. We have a good car and after finishing second last year while continuing to improve, our goal will be to give Toyota victory. » Indeed, the Japanese brand has been chasing its first success at the Dakar in 40 years.

# Dakar2019 @AlAttiyahN & @matthieubaumel pic.twitter.com/mhGj45sJBF

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) 7th January 2019

The best performer of the 2018 edition (four stage victories) will try to take advantage of the power of his V8 engine, placed at the front of his 4×4 Hilux. “This Dakar is very different from the previous ones. We have only one country and seventy percent of the course is made up of sand and dunes. It will be a difficult and shorter race, you will have to stay very concentrated and not waste time with navigation, he advances.

Last year, we had small problems which penalized us because we had a new 4x4. But we demonstrated our ability to win. At the house of Peugeot there was strength in numbers with three drivers around a leader. This year, Mini has collected them… »he concludes.