Peterhansel, Mitsubishi aim for glory in Dakar 2009
By ROY MEDINA, Special to abs-cbnNEWS.com | 01/01/2009 11:17 PM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
Nine-time Dakar rally champion Stephane Peterhansel of France will be driving a new car as the two-week race transfers to its new battle ground in South America after its absence last year.
While in Manila last August for the 2nd Philippine International Motor Show, Peterhansel, sat for a chat with the Philippine motoring media and disclosed some of his and the Mitsubishi’s plans for the grueling race.
“I will be flying to Africa to test the (Mitsubishi) Lancer [Evolution],” Peterhansel said during the motor show’s special meet and greet portion at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
The French champion, who arrived for a two-day visit just for the occasion, said the new car will be a cross between the Lancer Evo and the Pajero Evolution that he drove to victory during the 2007 race.
“It’ll be a new challenge, new destination and a new car,” he said.
Peterhansel’s new car, it was learned, will run on diesel.
Mitsubishi, meanwhile, has introduced the new MRX09 Racing Lancer for the Dakar’s 2009 race (to view the Racing Lancer, follow this link: http://www.mitsubishi-dakar.com/global/racing_lancer).
The champion said that Africa will serve as testing ground for the Racing Lancer. The first stage will be from August to September and another in October.
“We’ll do 12,000 kilometers in Africa before the race,” Peterhansel said.
He said that he sees an advantage since he has been practicing regularly with the new race car.
He, however, said that as such in races, he cannot tell what will happen at the finish line.
“It’s the same level but nobody knows what will happen,” the champ said, adding that he is excited to race again, Dakar-style, after the cancellation of this year’s edition due to terrorist threats.
Peterhansel has won the Dakar six times on a motorcycle from 1991 to 1998. He also bagged the top prize in the race’s four-wheel category in 2004 (T1 category, Nissan), and on a Mitsubishi Pajero Evo in 2005 and 2007.
Equally heralded co-driver
The champion Frenchman will have a compatriot as his wingman or co-driver. He’s Jean-Paul Cottret, who, like Peterhansel, is a decades-old veteran of cross-country rally championships.
Cottret is also a journeyman of sorts in rallies, having acted as a service crew for various teams between 1984 and 1992.
In 1992, he made the switch as a co-driver in the Rally of Tunisia, where he finished ninth overall. He repeated the feat in Spain the following year.
The year 1994 saw a big break for Cottret after he finished third overall in the Dakar. He also won the T2 category Cross-Country Rally World Cup title.
Cottret has been Peterhansel’s co-driver starting with the 2000 Paris-Dakar-Cairo Rally.
The team’s Lancers left France by plane on December 19, though race trucks and other support staff and gear, according to Mitusbishi’s official Dakar Web site, left earlier on board the Grand Benelux. The ship set sail from Le Havre in northern France for the port of Zarata, near Buenos Aires, on December 1.
Meanwhile, aside from the Peterhansel-Cottret pair, Mitsubishi will have three other teams joining the race on the Racing Lancer.
They are Luc Alphand and Gilles Picard, Joan Roma and Lucas Cruz and Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon.
Last-minute send-off
According to David Serieys, logistics chief of Team Mitsubishi, the four Racing Lancers arrived in Buenos Aires on December 23, together with two tons of freight.
While the team decided to send its cars from its workshop in Pont-deVaux at the last minute, Serieys, the brother of Team Mitsubishi boss Dominique, explained that they have done this as a drill.
"This is a drill we have already had the opportunity of doing for other races,” he said.
Serieys added that they would need to work on the car and welcomed the thought of an additional month of tests.
“We still had a lot of work to do on the car and we really needed the additional month to fine tune the Lancer. If we had been able to be ready on time, the cars would have left from Le Havre by boat like all the others."
Atlantic crossing
In place of the 2008 edition, the Dakar Series was formed to compensate for the absence of the race last year.
The Series’ Central Europe Rally was set from April 20-26, 2008 from Hungary to Romania. Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Volkswagen won the race. Peterhansel came in second.
The Pax Rally from Lisboa to Portimao, meanwhile, was from Sept. 10-14, 2008.
For the 30th year of the Dakar, the race crosses the Atlantic Ocean for Chile and Argentina. The race starts and ends in Buenos Aires.
According to race director Etienne Lavigne, Amaury Sports Organization, the Dakar’s organizer, has so far received 600 applications.
“There is a very real enthusiasm for the 2009 edition. This proves, quite simply, that the Dakar is unique – always a great adventure, and it is inimitable. The Dakar goes on - and continues to inspire dreams,” he said in an interview posted on the official Dakar Web site.
New playground, same tough race
Lavigne said that similar to the Dakar in Europe and Africa, the South American edition will be special.
“The route is ambitious -- remember, we’ll be doing 6,000 km of specials!” he said. All in all, the race will cover a distance of 9,000 kilometers from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso in Chile and back to the Argentine capital.
Lavigne said the route will be “extremely varied”.
“There will be fast, very fast, steering, sand, and dunes –the best racers. The route will be both testing and demanding,” he said, adding that the race would certainly bring out the best from the drivers and their machines.
He said that while there has been a change in location, competitors should not expect an easy race.
“We are organizing the Dakar, not a walk in the park, and the Dakar has to be the toughest race in the world,” the race chief said.
The Dakar, South American edition, takes place from January 3-18 in 2009, with 584 entrants for the motorcycle, quad, car and truck categories.
