Julien Ingrassia renounces participation in the 2023 Dakar

The professionalism of Julien Ingrassia was right for his participation in the 2023 Dakar. The former co-pilot of Sébastien Ogier has made the decision to renounce the next edition of the most famous of the events of rally-raid. The Aixois announced the news on his Facebook page Wednesday evening, highlighting a lack of preparation.

 

 

 

The eight-time world rally champion explained that he had not been able to respect the program he had imposed on himself for the 2023 Dakar, which he had to take part alongside Michaël Pisano. “My journey to the highest level in WRC taught me one thing among many others: preparation, practice and experience are the pillars on which work, capacity for improvisation and success on “D” day will be based, detailed Julien Ingrassia on his Facebook post. However, after having initially established a comprehensive “battle plan” with the aim of acquiring the most solid skills and experience possible, it is clear that we were not able to honor this program this year. Thus, not being able to participate in the flagship events which are the Rally of Morocco and the Rally of Andalusia, which will take place in a few days, I realize that my preparation is far from complete. »

Despite several months of learning with Mika Pisano to understand how orientation works on a rally raid, Julien Ingrassia preferred not to take the risk of a hasty participation on the dunes of Saudi Arabia next January. “The Dakar is a legendary event. I know my abilities to adapt and understand... but to feel comfortable and efficient, the objective was to gain initial experience of this racing format, so as not to discover it on the job in this which is becoming more demanding in Rally Raid, and these conditions are not met. It would never occur to anyone to start the 24H of Le Mans without ever having previously competed once on a circuit! » declared the eight-time WRC champion, who has not definitively given up on the Dakar in the coming years.