Dakar pits two- vs four-wheel drive
So far the 2wd Peugeots have reigned supreme
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE to win the Dakar Rally without all-wheel drive. Well, that’s been the notion in recent years anyway, with Mini, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi dominating with four-wheel drive cars for the past decade and a half.
The last time a two-wheel drive vehicle won the world’s toughest offroad race was in 2000 when Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser took the laurels at the then African-run event in his self-designed Schlesser-Renault buggy. Interestingly, he won only two out of the 13 stages, proving that consistency counts for something at this type of long distance race.
Jump ahead 16 years and it looks like Peugeot is onto something with its latest 2008 DKR machine. By Wednesday morning the rear-wheel driven buggy had taken seven out of eight stage wins at this year’s Dakar, with its star drivers Sebastien Loeb (3 wins), Carlos Sainz (2) and Stéphane Peterhansel (2) taking turns to show the chasing four-wheel-drive pack the quickest way across the Argentinian and Bolivian routes.
Two-wheel drive vehicles have an obvious traction disadvantage, but make up for it with longer suspension travel and they’re allowed to have their tyre pressures changed on the move - two features that have proven valuable on the types of terrain seen over the race’s first nine stages (the first was cancelled for rain).
The Peugeots’ turbodiesel engines have also suffered less in high altitude sections (some were over 4000 metres), than the naturally-aspirated petrol V8s used in Toyota’s 4wd South African-built Hilux bakkies.
By the time you read this the Dakar’s tenth stage will have taken place on Wednesday, featuring plenty of soft sand dunes that favour the all-wheel drives and setting up the Toyota Gazoo Racing Hiluxes to potentially make up some ground on the Peugeot leaders. At the time of our print deadline on Wednesday morning, Peugeot’s Sainz was in the lead with a seven minute advantage over his team-mate Peterhansel.
A further seven minutes behind in third was last year’s winner Nasser Al-Attiyah in a fourwheel drive turbodiesel Mini - the only other driver to have won a stage this year.
Mini driver Mikko Hirvonen of WRC fame was fourth, and South African Giniel de Villiers was fifth in his Gazoo Hilux, 53 minutes behind Sainz. Saudi driver Yazeed Alrajhi was sixth in another Hilux, and South African Leeroy Poulter in the third Hilux was seventh.
Early leader Loeb was still racing but out of contention for a win at his maiden Dakar, after rolling and seriously damaging his Peugeot on stage eight.
South African drivers Mark Corbett and Colin Matthews were in 20th and 40th positions with their locally-built Century CR5 Buggies after nine stages, and Sean Basil Reitz was 46th out of 74 remaining cars in his Nissan Navara.
In the quads category SA’s Yamaha rider Brian Baragwanath was eighth out of 46 entries, and his team-mate Ted Barbier 23rd. Unfortunately the third Team Rhide Yamaha of George Twigge has retired with a broken engine. SA’s only motorcycle entrant, Kobus Potgieter on a KTM, was in 86th place out of 143 starters.
The 2016 Dakar Rally ends in Rosario, Argentina this Saturday. For the latest stage results visit our www.motoring.co.za website.