Dakar 2023 – Romain Dumas sees life in blue with Rebellion

Romain Dumas loves blue. In recent months, the Frenchman has driven azure-colored cars, such as the Glickenhaus 007 in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) or the Ford Pro Electric SuperVan at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. For this Dakar Rally 2023, le touche-à-tout passe sur une Toyota Hilux T1+ tout bleu également, géré par l’équipe Rebellion Racing.

Met in the huge bivouac on the banks of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia this Friday, December 30, the track rider had the banana. “For now, we are making great progress!” We just need to avoid last place in the prologue to take a big step towards humanity”, laughs the Alesian.

 

 

 

 

 

See this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A publication shared by Romain Dumas (@romaindumas_official)

Indeed, the Dakar 2022 was a nightmare for the double winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His teammate Alexandre Pesci's DXX home buggy burned during the shakedown; in a gesture of kindness, Romain Dumas had given him the keys to his own two-wheel drive. Without a steering wheel, the Frenchman then received help from Nasser Al-Attiyah, who kindly lent him his old Toyota Hilux T1!

The adventure with the Japanese 4×4, although aborted after a few days of effort, gave him the desire to try the experience again, with better preparation.

“The rule changes of recent years have somewhat wiped out all our efforts, explains Romain Dumas, about his independently assembled buggy. Let's say that we were not rewarded and that we wore ourselves out to the point of being tired. Either we started almost from scratch to build a new buggy including Alex (Fishes) and I were only going to use it once a year, or we were going on a known basis. Of course, the experience of the few special stages I had last year pleased me with the Hilux. » An order was placed for two T1+ versions with the Belgian preparer Overdrive during the season.

Credited with five starts at the Dakar, including an 8th place as best finish result, Romain Dumas will also listen to the notes of a new co-pilot in the person of Max Delfino (13th in 2022 alongside Mickaël Pisano).

“This time, Nasser (Al-Attiyah) did not give me a user guide, smiles the record holder for the climb of Pikes Peak with the Volkswagen ID R. We will use our own ideas, slowly, for as long as possible. I would like to finish around the top 15. But you shouldn't dream, the opponents have so much experience. Even I have to ride and progress. If we compete in all the stages, it will already be a success. »