Dakar 2023 – The record that Ari Vatanen could lose

Ari Vatanen risks being regularly cited throughout the 45th edition of the Dakar Rally, whose departure is scheduled for December 31 along the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. The “Flying Finn” remains the record holder for stage victories in the Auto category before the start of the 2023 Dakar, but that could change by the arrival scheduled for January 15, 2023.

ALSO READ > Dakar 2023 Guide – The Route

Indeed, the four-time winner of the African Paris-Dakar (three times with Peugeot , once with Citroën) between 1987 and 1991 has held this record since January 6, 2004. At the time, the Nordic had set the best time in the stage linking the Moroccan cities of Tangier and Er-Rachidia over 748 km aboard a Nissan prototype.

Ari Vatanen scored his 50th and final stage victory in 2004 on this Nissan prototype. © DPPI

Another Dakar legend is chasing his record. Stéphane Peterhansel, sailed by Édouard Boulanger since 2021, is approaching his second Dakar at the wheel of the Audi RS Q e-tron hybrid 4×4 with the possibility of equaling or even surpassing his elder brother. “Monsieur Dakar”, eight-time winner in the Auto category, has 49 scratch times on four wheels, a small length less than Ari Vatanen… and the Dakar 2023 offers a route lengthened to 14 stages to climb into the statistics.

If Stéphane Peterhansel fails to steal this record, perhaps another desert ace will seize the opportunity. Nasser Al-Attiyah, title holder with Mathieu Baumel on a Toyota Hilux T1+ can boast of having 45 stage victories to its credit. The Qatari won three special stages in 2022 and… five in 2021!

Mathematically in the running, Carlos Sainz (Audi) would need a massacre from its opponents as well as Olympic form to erase the great Ari from the shelves. “El Matador”, three-time winner of the rally-raid, has gleaned 41 stage victories in the Dakar.