MOTORSPORT: High time for the Dakar

When it’s almost Christmas time it’s also almost Dakar time. Once the festivities are out of the way and the New Year dawns, hundreds of competitors from 60 countries in various sorts of cars and trucks, and on motorcycles and quad bikes, will set off on the toughest motor race on earth – two weeks of torture for men, woman and machines.

It will be the 40th Dakar Rally and, confusingly for geography fans, the 10th in South America. The event originated in Paris in 1978 and for three decades, pretty much, it ended in Dakar, the capital of Senegal in Africa.

Terrorism threats in Mauritania forced the cancellation of the 2008 event and the French organisers – the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which also organises the Tour de France cycling marathon – moved the event to South America in 2009. But it’s still called the ‘Dakar’.

On January 6, for the first time, it will start in Peru with the first five stages predominantly on sand dunes and often within sight of the Pacific Ocean.

Next-up is the challenge of racing at extreme altitude in Bolivia which mercifully includes a rest day in its capital, La Paz, some 3600 metres above sea level.

Argentina, hitherto the starting point since the Dakar’s move to South America, will host the final two days of the 2018 version, with the finish in motorsport-mad Cordoba in the middle of the country, about 700km north-west of Buenos Aires.

Competitors who make it to Cordoba will have covered 9000km, more than half of them in competition.

Seven of the 14 stages this time will be completely in sand dunes or off-road, including one marathon stage for all categories and another for bikes and quads only.

Five days will be endured at altitudes above 3000m.

There are no Australians in the four-wheel categories this year, but KTM rider Toby Price will be carrying the flag for us again. Price won the two-wheel division in 2016, a year after finishing third on debut.

Last January he crashed on the fourth stage and broke his left thigh, an injury which has kept him out of racing this year – although he starred on four wheels at the Finke Desert Race in central Australia mid-year.

KTM bikes have won the Dakar’s motorcycle section every year since 2001, and Price claims he’s feeling strong again after a recent “clean-up” of his injury.

“Things are looking really good for January. I have been able to get some time on the new bike, and it's a huge step forward – the team has done an incredible job,” he said.

“I'd been off a bike for close to nine months. It's clearly not the preparation any rider would want leading up to the biggest race of the year, but then you don't forget how to ride a motorcycle.”

Competition at the pointy end of the car division will be between Peugeot in its last hurrah with the rear-wheel drive, 3.0L turbo-diesel DKRs, Toyota and MINI which is taking on Peugeot’s dominance of the 2WD category in the last two years with a new buggy again powered by a 3.0L diesel engine.

Toyota is actually sending its first all-new, all-wheel-drive Dakar Hilux utes since 2012. Built in South Africa, the high-tech HiLux employs a naturally-aspirated V8 engine which is now mid-mounted for better weight distribution and runs 12 per cent more suspension travel.

Next year Toyota is again attempting to win, for the first time, both the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car classic in France and on the Dakar.

For the ultra-marathon rally, the Japanese giant has enlisted Qatari ace Nasser Al-Attiyah who won the Dakar in 2011 and 2015. He has won three consecutive Cross-Country World Cup Championships in Toyota HiLuxes.

Regarded as the fastest man on sand, Al-Attiyah says Toyota’s new Dakar vehicle “is capable of doing something really special”.

He is particularly pleased to enjoy a better view due to a change of seat position. “This is something that can help a lot,” he said heading into an event in which navigation and avoiding obstacles can count for as much as the speed and reliability of the machinery.

The other potential front-running Toyota will be driven by South African stalwart Giniel de Villiers, who won the first Dakar in South America driving a Volkswagen Touareg.

But, as always, the man to beat is French legend Stephane Peterhansel, a 13-time winner – the first six on bikes, the past seven on four wheels, including the last two with Peugeot.

“I can see the days we spend at high altitude being the key to this race,” said the man revered as ‘Monsieur Dakar’ of the extreme tests which can cause illness and lapses in concentration (and let’s not forget the sudden changes in weather which can transform the landscape in an instant).

Peugeot’s stellar driver line-up also includes two World Rally Championship legends, Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Dakar winner for Volkswagen in 2010), and Sebastien Loeb, the Frenchman who for the past couple of years has shown staggering speed but is yet to discover the formula to come out on top, as he did in winning a record nine WRC titles.

And a fourth string in the Peugeot bow is Cyril Depres, another Frenchman who had multiple successes on two wheels.

Mini’s driver squad comprises Spaniard Nani Roma, the 2014 Dakar winner, Finn Mikko Hirvonen, who was fourth on his Dakar debut last year, and Argentinian Orlando Terranova.

In less than a month we’ll know whether the Minis, built by Sven Quandt’s X-Raid outfit, have conquered the Peugeots or whether Toyota has snared one its most valuable motorsport prizes…but while ever Peterhansel is in the Dakar, you can’t count him out.

Rallycross expands to seven rounds
The Australian Rallycross Series will expand to seven rounds for its second season next year, including an event on a purpose-built circuit within the new The Bend Motorsport Park outside Adelaide.

Located 100km east of Adelaide on the site of what was once the Mitsubishi proving ground, ‘The Bend’ is a $110 million project and the rallycross event is scheduled for late September. During its first year of operation, ‘The Bend’ will also host Supercars and GT racing.

‘RXAus’, as the rallycross series organisers like to call it, will stage three of its rounds at Winton Motor Raceway in northern Victoria – the opener in February, another in July and then the season finale in early November.

That final round is to be known as the RallyCross Nationals with a different format yet to be announced.

Marulan Driver Training Centre in NSW will host two rounds, while Raleigh Raceway near Coffs Harbour will host its first round in June.

Justin Dowel, a former Australian Rally Champion who has been a driving force behind RXAus and won its first title, said: “Our first year showed how competitive Rallycross in Australia is – our second we hope will take it to a new level. There are lots of new cars being built and new drivers putting together their plans to contest the series, so our grids will be bigger and the racing even better.”

Forty-five drivers competed during this year’s six rounds, with the debut event at Winton attracting more than 30 starters.

2018 Australian Rallycross Series calendar
1. Winton (VIC), February 18
2. Marulan (NSW), April 28
3. Coffs Harbour (NSW), June 23
4. Winton (VIC), July 14-15
5. Marulan (NSW), August 4
6. Tailem Bend (SA), September 23
7. Winton (VIC), November 10-11