Midterm recap | Audi x Dakar Rally 2024
It is a dream. I have, I have seen it. Now I need to not dream it, I have to do it. It’s like the last few hours, the calm before the storm, so to say. We are finally back. The Dakar Rally 2024. 14 days, across Saudi Arabia.
Through the sands of time, Audi sport has carved a path of innovation at the Dakar rally. Their relentless drive has brought the electrifying Audi RS Q e-tron to the forefront of endurance racing. The Dakar Rally begins now. After the experience of last year’s Rally Dakar, we’ve done a lot of things
To improve the team’s performance. But I think also the setbacks and the experiences even put the team closer together now. Everybody is really,really engaged and focused. You need to put more effort in your preparation. And this year, after my incident, I have to recover and you know,
I decided really to try to arrive this year in good shape. This Dakar 24 will be probably the more hard Dakar, since we are in Saudi Arabia. But also where we go there are a lot of parts which are not really easy. With a lot of rocks, a lot of dunes,
Can be also very interesting for the guys with a lot of experience or a little bit more like the spirit of the past. My motivation is as high as ever. I’ve been dreaming all my life about things, about what can I achieve when I was a child and looking
Five, six years after and luckily a lot of the dreams has come through. And I’m still dreaming that I can win this race today. when I want something, I fight for it. And I’ve been lucky to achieve. The target is to run the rally within the top five all the time and then
Hope that the average over the days, that, that will be good enough to be fighting for the top position. I think it will just come down to who makes most days clean. It’s the moment everybody has worked for. This is the start for the Audi team. The feeling to drive the car
Is really good, balance of the car suspension, power, everything. I feel already the car better than ever. Now it is just to stay away from those mistakes and just keep the car clean and tidy and do good navigation and stay in the flow and just enjoy the rally.
You need to go day by day, you know, today is finished you’re thinking tomorrow and tomorrow it is finished, you think after tomorrow. You cannot make very long term plans in this race. It’s great to see how the processes are sharpened every day. And especially if there are tough schedules,
All the team has to work together driven by innovation and united by passion. They’re taking huge chunks of time back here. Unfortunately, the stone area starts, and then we go to one puncture, then two and then three. Big surprise when you arrive to the end of the stage
And you think you have lost 15 minutes at least and then you are second. A fantastic stage win for Stéphane Peterhansel. This early in the competiton, superb performance from the Dakar legend. Mr. Dakar, now has a record for 50 stage wins with a car. So, an all time high up to now.
And my heartfelt congrats to him. It’s an impressive thing to see today. I’m not surprised. I know how good he is, I know how strong, that’s why I respect him so much. That is why he’s Monsieur Dakar. We know that a lot of things can happen again. At the end, this year
Is really, probably the best start of the Dakar since the three years. Audi has been always top of the technology in motorsport so they have shown the others that their technology is better than what it has been just for years. If you come with the same machine than the others, same technology,
It is nothing innovative. You can win Dakar, but you are one more, that wins the Dakar. But like this you have the opportunity to make history with something different with something different, that nobody else did before. We want to set a milestone what electrification within a car can stand.
The legacy that we will leave here, on the rally raid, doesn’t matter the result, will be forever. We are really happy for the overall classification of the team. The train is now moving fast forward and we will just have to be fair and smart about it. We set a reasonable base
For the challenging stage into the empty quarter tomorrow. We are all focused on the first week because we are in and we want to play the game, we want to arrive in Riyadh in a good position. It will push the crews to their limits. The 48 hour stage is 600 kilometers.
Two days are combined and we don’t have any service at all. And we are staying out in the empty quarter in a tent. The tactics can be extreme and to stay focused, concentrated for 2 days, like that, it will be the key of the success. The dream, I, I have to wait
A few days, at the moment, so. It is the start of the dream.
Midway through the @OfficialDakar 2024, team Audi Sport is leaving their mark on the unforgiving desert landscape. The rally’s challenges have become a testament to our resilience, with every sand dune and rocky stretch embraced by the determined spirit of our team.
Stay tuned as we continue to forge ahead, writing a story of endurance and accomplishment in the sands of the desert.
Watch Audi’s Road to Dakar: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjUGX1CoBABkeCXS_RZxO0YHSrpPwR1Tr
Watch Audi’s Dakar Rally Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjUGX1CoBABnOcVsopSHJo6PSG-mLHvLV
#Audi #RSQetron #AudiDakar #Dakar2024
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*Audi RS Q e-tron: This vehicle shown here is the Rally Dakar vehicle that is not available as a production model. Closed course, professional driver. Do not attempt. The Audi RS Q e-tron combines an electric drivetrain with an energy converter system comprising a TFSI engine and generator.
