Dakar 2024 – Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel 12th in the Prologue, “a very good place! »

Everything is going well for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Prodrive) on the evening of the Prologue of Dakar Rally 2024. This Friday, January 5, the duo of double title holders and double outgoing W2RC world champions recorded a sufficient time to be just beyond the top 10 (12th). They will therefore start from this 12th place tomorrow during the first stage of the event.

“We had to win (in order to be able to choose the 10th starting place, the first 10 having the chance to choose their location in decreasing order. Editor's note) or not to be in the 10, summarizes the French navigator. We would have wanted to be 12th on purpose, we wouldn't have succeeded, it's a very good place! »

 

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By starting 12th, Al-Attiyah will benefit from a track cleaned by the cars in front of him, and he will not have many vehicles to overtake on a special which promises to be long (more than 400 km).

Its Qatari driver confirms the positive state of mind that reigns in the cabin of the Prodrive Hunter T1+ “It’s a good start to rally. I am very happy with the performance and handling of the car. We made a slight mistake. We missed a junction, there were a lot of different tracks, but I think we finished the special well. Tomorrow will be a long day. »

Mathieu Baumel, for his part, emphasizes the good benchmarks taken in their new British 4x4. “It’s good to see everything working on a new car. We are happy with the performances with Nasser. Everything we changed in the cockpit works. This allows us to check where we are.

It was longer than the usual prologues but it's better, it's a very nice prologue, a real little special, not easy in navigation, in driving. »