Audi at the Dakar, setback through technology?

The German manufacturer has made its technological breakthroughs one of its favorite assets in motorsport for forty years. But the poor performance of the Dakar 2023, with its electric 4x4 with a range extender, raises many questions about the merits of this philosophy, three years before the major challenge of F1.

Published on 06/02/2023 à 12:15

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Audi at the Dakar, setback through technology?

Many unanswered questions © Audi

The story imagined by Audi was well-crafted. With a discovery of the desert sanctioned by four stage successes and a final position within the Top 10 of the 2022 Dakar, Audi had reviewed everything in order to officially aim for a podium during the 2023 edition of the queen of trials rally-raid. The bivouac feared the speed of the RS Q e-tron E2, lighter and more reliable than their previous version. Candidates for their own succession, Nasser Al-Attiyah-Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) had difficulty hiding their concern about the brand with the rings.

Of the three Audi RS Q e-trons at the start, only one finished © Audi

The usual scenario of “one year to learn, one year to earn” appeared to be being drafted. However, on January 15, in Saudi Arabia, the German squad only had one car arriving out of the three present at the start, two weeks earlier. The survivors Mattias Ekström-Emil Bergkvist settled for 14th place, 6h51′ from Al-Attiyah-Baumel, winners despite equipment on paper less efficient than the Germanic hybrid 4×4. The trailer for a big budget film