Rally-Raid
Dakar 2024 – Mathieu Baumel after Stage 1: “It’s just the start of the Dakar, it’s not alarming”
The Prodrive Hunter t1+ must have rolled on the rocks. © DPPI / Antonin Vincent
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Prodrive) began their defense of the W2RC world title and victory at the Dakar with a mixed stage. The Qatari-French duo completed this first special of the Dakar Rally 2023 more than 20 minutes behind the winner Guillaume de Mévius, and almost as much behind one of the favorites, Carlos Sainz (Hear).
An outlay which can be explained by two punctures in the first part of the day! “The day started very well, but before km 80, we caught up with Guerlain (Chicherit), describes Mathieu Baumel at the bivouac. He had just had a puncture, that’s why we came back to Guerlain so quickly. He had just left right in front of us, in the dust we didn't see a stone and we had a flat tire. It was bad luck. Unfortunately there was a second puncture behind.
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ALSO READ > Dakar 2024, Stage 1 – Big first for Guillaume de Mévius! Loeb, Al-Attiyah and Peterhansel left behind
There you tell yourself that the day is going to be long. We knew that the second part of the special was going to be complicated to manage for the tires, and that was the case! We did almost 150 km at an average of 50 km/h, so we lost a lot of time. But we came through another puncture, Nasser managed the risk well. »
Another problem arose at the end of the special. “Then, over the last 50 km, it was smoother, with fewer stones. This is where our radio (interphone) broke down. But that was nothing for the first day of the Dakar! I worked my information by hand (to indicate the course to follow to Nasser Al-Attiyah). »
In these conditions, Mathieu Baumel is more than satisfied with losing “only” 20 minutes on Carlos Sainz. Especially since other favorites had a complicated day like him. “It’s a great start. I thought we were going to waste more time than that, and apart from Carlos (Sainz) which takes us 22 minutes and does a good job, the rest (suitors) is within a reasonable range. For now, no worries.
Tomorrow, we start 18th, it's just the start of the Dakar, it's not alarming. Stéphane Peterhansel is not far behind, Seb Loeb is right in front, it can be played in a few minutes, we're not that bad. It could have been much worse! »
Medhi Casaurang
Passionate about the history of motorsport across all disciplines, I learned to read thanks to AUTOhebdo. At least that's what my parents tell everyone when they see my name inside!
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