Dirk von Zitzewitz and his 23rd Dakar Rally: Car, driver, team, track – everything is new
In the supermarket, Dirk von Zitzewitz stocked up on fruit, eggs, butter and bread. With the provisions for the next two weeks in his luggage, he goes to the parc fermé, to the French service team PH Sport, to familiarize himself again with the peculiarities of the new Peugeot buggy. The Ostholsteiner has arrived in the 3.9 million metropolis of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s most important port city, and is looking forward to the start of the 44th Dakar Rally. On New Years Day at 10.45 a.m. the Peugeot with the starting number 206 rolls into the prologue with the navigator von Zitzewitz and driver Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi.
Roll over with the sledge on the local Bungsberg
“Everything is good, also arrived safely. At 25 degrees it is pleasantly warm. We have also already completed the first training session. The buggy runs great, ”reports von Zitzewitz via Facetime. Obviously: two thick scratches over the left eye. An accident? “Not as you think,” laughs the Karlshofer and reports about the Christmas sleigh ride with the family on the local Bungsberg. “And then we overturned. The rollover is already done. “
Traditionally overslept on New Year’s Eve
On New Year’s Eve, after the technical inspection of the car and the checking of all papers (license, blood type, insurance, entry fee, PCR tests), von Zitzewitz dives into the Dakar bubble. The 53-year-old winner from 2009 will traditionally miss the start of the new year. Because on New Year’s Day it starts at six o’clock, a good 150 kilometers to the prologue (19 km) from the gates of Jeddah.
Third time in Saudi Arabia
Camper with registration OH-D212
A visible piece of home will also be there – his camper with the registration number OH-D 212. It is his retreat. And that’s what he’ll need. Because he knows: “The Dakar 2022 will be challenging and exciting. The individual special stages look a bit shorter, so we expect very difficult terrain. So the driving demands are higher than last. ”The goal: With last year’s seventh Al-Qassimi he wants to finish in the top five.
Dirk’s Inside-Dakar – daily from 8 p.m.
Route: 8,375 kilometers across Saudi Arabia, including 4,285 test kilometers. Start and destination: Jeddah.
Subscriber: 1,065 drivers in 578 vehicles, including 149 motorcycles and 97 cars.
TV: Eurosport will show a summary from 9 p.m.
Blog: Dirk von Zitzewitz is also on the air (from January 1st) – with “Dirks Inside-Dakar”, from 8 pm on the Weber-Werke YouTube channel.
Audi premiere with modern desert ships
The competition is fierce, led by the Audi works team, which is competing for the first time. Audi is going into the Dakar with its desert ships with electric drive without any competition practice. But with three stars – record winner Stéphane Peterhansel, DTM champion Mattias Ekström and Carlos Sainz. The top favorite is the two-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar, who competes again for Toyota (405 hp, all-wheel drive). The British Prodrive team has also invested in its Hunter (390 hp, all-wheel drive) and Sébastien Loeb. “It will be tough to be among the first cars,” says von Zitzewitz, “for us it is important to remain flawless.”
From Jens Kürbis
Reference-www.ln-online.de