Tough course and green energies: what to remember from the presentation of the Dakar 2021

Doubt may have remained following the second wave of coronavirus and the tense climate reigning in the Middle East towards the West, but the gloomy minds are at their expense: the Dakar 2021 will be held from January 2 to 15 in Saudi Arabia. David Castera and his team from Amaury Sport Organization presented the upcoming edition in detail during a conference on Wednesday November 25. Here are the main points:

1. A more difficult course than in 2020

The criticisms made by participants in the first Saudi Dakar pointed to the relative ease of the second week. ASO has understood this well and is correcting the situation in 2021. The 12 stages are completely new and limit the length of the smoothest sectors. In other words, the technicality will be higher and you will have to think before pressing the mushroom.

Throughout the 4 km of timed sections, the crews will have to use the new electronic road book wisely, given a few minutes before each stage start. Mythical ingredient of rally-raid, sand will be present with several stages marked by dune ridges. As such, the penultimate stage, the longest (511 km), will provide suspense until the end with 100 terminals in the dunes, i.e. “an ocean of sand” assures David Castera.

2. Less quantity, more quality

Due to the health crisis and travel restrictions, the list of registrants is smaller than in previous years. In this unprecedented context, we must salute the performance of bringing together 321 vehicles in total (129 motorcycles and quads, 124 cars, T3 and SSV), 42 trucks and 26 oldies for the launch of the Dakar Classic, a regularity rally reserved for cars/trucks from 1979 to 2000.

In Car, Sébastien Loeb is making its return in the company of a new buggy under the awning of the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team, managed by the English from Prodrive. The Alsatian is associated with his long-time co-driver, Daniel Elena, and has as comrade the Spaniard Nani Roma, winner in 2014 with Mini.

>>List of entrants<

Precisely, Mini returns to the charge with the buggy for the outgoing winners, Carlos Sainz-Lucas Cruz. Stéphane Peterhansel will want to do better than third place with his new navigator, Édouard Boulanger.

David Castera on the 2021 Dakar

“We want to offer the best to the competitors. » David Castera looks back on the 3 weeks of recuperation which allowed his team to develop the route for the Dakar 2021! # Dakar2021 pic.twitter.com/3ofJWIivJe

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) November 25, 2020

At Toyota, on fait confiance au solide Hilux V8. L’artiste du désert, Nasser Al-Attiyah, visera la passe de trois grâce au travail de son copilote, le Français Mathieu Baumel. Moins ébouriffant mais régulier, Giniel de Villiers tiendra à coup sûr la baraque.

Among the 144 beginners, we notice the presence of former rally driver Kris Meeke aboard an SSV Zephyr built by the French company PH Sport. Cyril Despres returns to the premier car category with adventurer Mike Horn in the right seat of a Peugeot DKR. Another rally-raid figure, Christian Lavieille rides on an Optimus from the MD Rallye Sport structure.

3. Hydrogen, a solution for the future

This does not concern the next Dakar, but we will soon have to say goodbye to the diesel engines of the Mini and the V8 of the Toyotas. By 2030, ASO wants to generalize the use of hydrogen to bivouac cars/trucks!

A bold bet, which ignores electric power to take the plunge directly towards a more environmentally friendly mode of propulsion, albeit in its infancy. Initially, the elites (professionals) of cars and trucks will be encouraged to make this transition, before expanding the phenomenon to amateurs and independents.

4. The TV device

As usual, France Télévisions will broadcast the event. Every evening from 20 p.m., 40 minutes of live broadcast will be offered on France 4, before switching to France 3 for the Journal du Dakar at 20:45 p.m. Night owls will be rewarded by the Bivouac show on France 2 in the second part of the evening. The live tracker and timing will be available on the francetvsport website.