Even though it may be more grueling than Le Mans, and more of a technological science fair than La Sarthe at the peak of the LMP1 era, Audi’s Dakar Rally program remains obscure due to its far off location and remote stages that prove hard to capture and package as a media product. In short, it’s hard for fans to keep up with the action. Even still, Audi Sport goes out of its way to keep fans aware of the action and so we intend to cover it as best we can.
In case you aren’t familiar with the program, the Dakar Rally is part of the FIA Rally Raid Championship, and the multi-week race plays within that championship on the magnitude of Le Mans within the FIA WEC season.
This is Audi Sport’s third year contesting the race, fielding a slightly evolved RS Q e-tron that still makes use of the same core concept. It’s effectively an EV with a gas range extender. Does that make it a hybrid? Depends on who you ask, but the car is powered by one of Audi Sport’s Formula E developed drive units mated to each axle, and then a third drive unit set to convert energy from a 2.0-liter turbocharged race engine derived from the RS 5 DTM program. However you classify that, it’s a trick configuration that certainly wins the selective reuse award for expensive racing componentry, and the gull-wing off-roader design is pretty cool also. That it all harkens the great rallying era of the 1980s is icing on the cake.
With such an experimental program, Audi has proven a dominant competitor but hasn’t netted success in its first two tries due to either component failures in the first year, and then serious damage in the second. All of that comes in part due to the extra weight carried by such an experimental vehicle.
So, has Audi Sport found the right formula this year? Time will tell, and we’ll certainly follow along. The racing is exciting, and Dakar / Rally Raid’s potential for testing new components ahead of road use seems obvious. In our eyes then, that’s much in keeping in the tradition of Audi Sport and we hope the program continues on.
Over the next few weeks, NBC Sports / Peacock will be providing daily stage updates from the rally. We expect Audi Sport will also provide daily updates and will share them here. Make sure to follow along.
