Curiosities about the Dakar Rally
For many it is the most demanding race in the world, we will tell you a few curiosities about the Dakar Rally. At Turbo3 we love to share our passion for motorsport and racing with anyone who is interested, we hope you enjoy it.
His founder
The founder of this impressive race was Thierry Sabine, in 1977 he got lost with his motorcycle through the Libyan desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally and on his return to Paris he was fascinated by the spectacular views of the landscape. It was then that he decided to create the Paris-Dakar Rally, a race that opened in December of the following year.
It was in 1986 when the 36-year-old Frenchman died in a helicopter accident in the desert during the Dakar, the aircraft crashed into a dune and his life could not be saved. Thierry thus fulfilled his dream of dying in the desert, and he had always said that if he could choose a place to die, he would like it to be in the desert.
Spain and its best drivers
Spain has been the starting point of this race four times. It was from Granada in 1995, 1996 and 1999. It also started from Barcelona in 2005. What a pity that in none of these editions a pilot of Spanish nationality won.
Carlos Sainz, known worldwide for winning this challenging race three times, managed to become champion by running with three different brands. The first was in 2010 with Volkswagen, the second was in 2018 with the Peugeot brand and the last in which he won was in 2020 competing with the Mini brand. Our champion is tied in number of victories with Mete, Lartigue and Al-Attiyah, excellent pilots as well and only the pilot Vatanen surpasses him in victories with 4 victories in his record and also the champion Peterhansel with 8 victories.
Laia Sanz, competing on the back of her motorcycle, managed to finish the race eleven times, in all of them she was the leader in the female category, running with three different brands: Gas Gas, Honda and KTM. The Catalan rider is an example of self-improvement and dedication in the motor world.
In 2008 the Dakar Rally race was not held due to serious safety problems
Another curiosity about the Dakar Rally was that a few days after starting, four French citizens and three Mauritanian soldiers were killed. The French government advised against going through Mauritania and finally it was decided to suspend the race when all the pilots were already in Portugal. Fortunately, there were no incidents to regret despite Mauritania having suffered terrorist attacks in and around the Israeli embassy.
The only woman to win a Dakar Rally
Germany’s Jutta Kleinschmidt was the first and only woman to win a Dakar Rally in 2001 at the wheel of the Mitsubishi brand. Although in 1998 she already managed to be the first woman to win a stage of it.
The Spanish pilot Cristina Gutiérrez managed to be one of the women who has managed to win a stage of the race in the 2021 edition, and it is that it has been 16 years that a woman has not achieved it.
He left us an icon of the Dakar
In the 2021 edition, Hubert Auriol lost his life at the age of 68. We say that he was an icon of the Dakar because he was the first rider to be proclaimed champion in the motorcycle and automobile category, the Frenchman managed to be champion three times, two on a motorcycle in 1981 and 1983, and later in 1992 in the category of cars. He starred in the great feat of finishing the 1987 race with both broken ankles after suffering a fall from his motorcycle, without a doubt, he was a very special rider.
Safety measures at the Dakar Rally
Despite the organization’s efforts to provide maximum safety for the participants of the great event, since it was inaugurated, a total of 76 pilots have lost their lives. That is why since 2010 the displacement of motorcycles was limited to 450 cubic centimeters, previously pilots had directed vehicles of up to 1000 cc.
In the last edition of 2021, the use of airbag jackets was mandatory for the category of motorcycles and quads, a technology that has been used for some time in the suits of MotoGP riders.
Another safety measure on the part of the organization was to limit the number of tires that can be used in the race to 6. This forces riders to slow down and thus reduce excessive tire wear. This decision has created controversy for some drivers as it is easier for some to puncture their tires than for others.
Heads or tails
The protagonists of this curiosity were the drivers Ari Vatanen, Jacky Ickx, teammates and the head of the Peugeot brand and current president of the international motorsports federation Jean Todt. The latter, six days after the end of the 1989 competition, decided to flip a coin to decide which of the two drivers would win the Dakar that year.
The luck was favorable for Ari Vatanen, pilot who already would have been champion 3 years ago.
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