Stéphane Peterhansel: « My goal is to win the Dakar 2023 »

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Hello Stéphane, you are going to compete in a few days in the 34th Dakar of your career, the 24th in Auto. How is your preparation going?

Thank you for reminding me of the number because I always have trouble from one year to another! To put it simply, a preparation for the Dakar is a full year, it never stops. We finish the Dakar, we have a big debriefing on the points that didn’t work or caused problems. Right away, engineers start finding solutions to improve the car and solve the issues. Then, we do tests to validate the modifications. We started the first tests in June in Spain. Then, we continued with tests in September in Morocco. In early October, we had a race, the Rally of Morocco, and the car was ready.

So there are different phases. Planning the modifications, testing them, validating them in the long run, and then a race to confirm our technical choices. In the meantime, in March we participated in the Abu Dhabi Rally, right after the Dakar. This was the first victory of an electric car in a Rally-Raid event. For Audi, it was a great satisfaction to win their second race, after the Dakar. So that’s what preparation is all about, development, testing, and racing.

However, it doesn’t stop there because there were workshops at Audi Sport two weeks ago for mechanical training in order to be prepared, both drivers and co-pilots, in case of any problems during the next Dakar. Being able to change parts, change a transmission, replace some sensors on the engine, troubleshoot any issues that may arise with electric motors or software. We spend a few days at the workshop to be ready for action.

Then, after the final preparation phase, we need to get in physical shape to be as best as possible in January. There are different parameters in the preparation: technique, practice, and physical fitness.

After the Audi RS Q e-tron’s first participation last year, with which you achieved a stage victory in the Dakar 2022, what improvements have been made to the car compared to the previous version?

We did not revolutionize the concept of the car, which was already good. We tried to find solutions to make it more reliable. We had problems with the suspension and we resolved them. Then, we tried to increase performance by reducing the weight of the car. The FIA establishes a weight scale according to the vehicles, and we were too heavy compared to it, so we managed to make the car lose 100 kilos, as weight is crucial for performance in competitions.

The second point we worked on is the aerodynamics, in order to have the least resistance possible. We reduced the weight of the body and spent a lot of time in the wind tunnel. As a result, in areas where the car is driving between 80 and 170 km/h, which is the speed limit, it feels more free, less resistant, as if it were even lighter. So these are the two areas of development in terms of performance: weight and aerodynamics.

The third point was about simplifying the life inside for the driver and the co-driver. Everything related to managing the thermal engine, electric motors, and battery charging strategies has been automated. This means that we have a system that can regulate the power if the battery discharges too quickly. Last year, there were moments where we had to manage it ourselves to avoid discharging the batteries too fast. Now, the car manages everything on its own, allowing us to focus on both driving for the driver and navigation for the co-driver. It has made our lives inside the cockpit much simpler.

What are your goals for this 2023 edition, the second one with Audi?

After the tests and the race in Morocco, we understood that we had a high-performing car. In any case, we have a car that, in my opinion, is capable of winning the Dakar. The objective is therefore to try to win again. It is never easy, as there is external competition with Loeb, Al-Attiyah, and others, and there is also internal competition with my two teammates, especially Carlos Sainz. I think we have the weapon to fight and aim for victory.

Since 1988, the year of your first participation, you have experienced the three continents where the race has taken place (Africa, South America, Middle East). In your opinion, what is the ideal playground for a Rally-Raid and why?

First of all, we are really lucky to have been able to ride on these different continents because the Rally-Raid and the Dakar have allowed us to discover magnificent landscapes. But if we had to keep only one, it would be Africa for me, which offered more possibilities than what we have today.

I say this because in Africa, we would start from the north with either Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, or Libya. Then we would enter the vast deserts with Niger, Mali, or Mauritania, with the Ténéré Desert being truly immense and navigation being important. We would end up in landscapes known as the Sahel, with vegetation and a bit of savannah. Finally, we would reach Sub-Saharan Africa with forests where there were tracks amidst the trees.

With these three or four different types of landscapes, we had much more diversity than what we found later in South America or even what can be found today in Saudi Arabia.

I would keep Africa for its diversity, for its disconnect as well. We were disconnected from the modern world with sparsely populated areas where there was truly an adventurous aspect that stood out more than today.

Furthermore, at that time, the races were tougher and longer in terms of distance and time. In South America, the longest stages lasted six hours for the top competitors, while in Africa, we would go up to twelve hours for the top competitors, and it was even longer for amateurs.

After six successes in Moto and eight in Auto, will we ever see you starting in the Dakar in another category (truck, quad, SSV)?

I don’t believe so. At one point, I had pondered the question of why not do a Dakar in a truck and win in that category. In fact, I had tried a racing truck and didn’t enjoy it as much. In terms of driving, it’s definitely less interesting than a car, it’s rough, less fun, it doesn’t jump as well and it doesn’t slide as easily.

When you have the chance to be a factory driver and have one of the best cars to use on the Dakar, I believe it would still be a shame to leave by truck. Anyway, I think the Audi challenge is the last challenge I’m trying to overcome and after that, it will be the end.

So, will the Dakar 2023 be your last Dakar?

Theoretically no because I have a contract with Audi for a third Dakar in 2024. However, I did think that if I managed to win this Dakar in 2023, I don’t think I would go to the end of the contract. It would be so much better to finish on a high note with a victory rather than trying yet another year, so yes, it could be my last Dakar.

The Volkswagen Group is engaged in a vast program to electrify its range of vehicles. How can a competition like the Dakar help a manufacturer develop greener technologies?

We don’t know if going fully electric is the right direction to take. What is certain is that we are learning a lot from extreme races like the Dakar in terms of conditions, temperatures, and the ability to drive in very unstable and soft terrains such as sand. These are extremely harsh conditions for batteries and electric motors. So I think everything Audi learns in a race like the Dakar, as well as what they have been able to learn in Formula E, will help them in the future development of production cars.

On our side, we have a hybrid car as we have a combustion engine that functions as a generator to charge the batteries, but our mode of propulsion is solely given by the electric motor. Thanks to the competition, Audi learns about batteries, electric motors, but I don’t think that the hybridization, like the one we have with a combustion engine, can be replicated identically in a production car.

On the other hand, if we want to do a race like the Dakar with electric engines, it was the only solution. We can travel up to a thousand kilometers in one day in the Dakar and we don’t refuel between the morning start and the evening finish. To make a purely electric car work without an engine for recharging, we would need about 20 tons of batteries to complete the stage. That’s why we have a hybrid car.