The Dakar Future continues its program

Le DakarFuture moving forward, thanks for him. Launched in January 2021 by David Castera and Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), the energy transition initiative benefited from an update this Saturday, January 8 at the bivouac in Riyadh.

If on the car side, the major information was the presentation of the first hydrogen-powered prototype by GCK Motorsport, other initiatives followed one another on the scene.

🧬 Dakar DNA: to act as pioneers with 45 years of history behind us 📚
🧪 Be a lab for continuous innovations: course design, security & tracking devices, new categories etc…#DakarFuture pic.twitter.com/4sREfimq5Y

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 8, 2022

« We had a very ambitious project. Today it becomes real, confirmed David Castera, the Director of the event. It’s a new era, adapted to today’s world, which will allow us to continue our sport in a greener way.”

The French company Gaussin undoubtedly provided the most impressive proof of the energy transition of the Dakar Future with its truck H2 Racing Truck. Running entirely on hydrogen and without a gearbox, the truck performs a few demonstrations over the course of the rally-raid and intends to be entered in competition next year.

“Our truck, built in eight months, was born, said Christophe Gaussin, CEO of the eponymous company. The torque in all four wheels is phenomenal, which means that with each acceleration precious time is gained to pass the dunes. In terms of autonomy, we had planned 250 km in a difficult race profile, we are 400 km away which makes us very optimistic. »

One of the announcements made by David Castera is the obligation ofuse of biofuels on class T1 vehicles from the 2023 edition. “We still have a fleet of traditional thermal engines that we will need to support while starting to reduce the carbon footprint,” indicates the Béarnais. Our impact is reduced by the arrival of clean fuels at BRX, which won two stages in the first week. We can reduce the carbon footprint by 60 to 80% while remaining very efficient. »

Still in the four-wheel category but in light prototypes (T3), the Spaniard Edu Blanco is building a Electric SSV with a view to the 2023 Dakar. Cyril Despres continues to work with adventurer Mike Horn to enter the hydrogen-powered H2 Racing at the next Dakar.

Kees Koolen, pilot of the Project 2030 truck and CEO of Koolen Industries, hopes to be able to launch a 100% electric truck called Nicias next year. He rocks “The Dakar is the ultimate testing ground for future technologies. »

Finally, the double winner of the Dakar in a truck with Iveco, Gerard de Rooy, will develop a 100% electric truck. He hopes to align it in 2023, as he explained : “We want to compete to be in the top 10. It’s a hell of a challenge but it’s the right direction for the category and the Dakar. We are confident that we can build a high-performance truck for 2023.”

Absent in Riyadh, two other projects should animate the coming months in the T1U category, namely theassociation between Oreca and SMG for a hybrid prototype, and Pipo Matériaux which is working on an innovative hydrogen heat engine.