The German manufacturer made a splash on its Dakar debut this year, with its hybrid RS Q e-tron winning four of the 12 stages – including three in the second half of the rally.
It could have realistically contended for overall honours against the Toyota and Bahrain Raid Xtreme teams, with only a crash for Stephane Peterhansel on Stage 1 and navigational dramas for Carlos Sainz and Mattias Ekstrom on the same day leaving it out of the fight.
Nevertheless, Ekstrom ended up a solid ninth in the final classification, while Sainz finished on the cusp of the top 10 after scoring two stage wins on either side of the rest day.
Audi’s incredible pace caught the attention of Richards, whose Prodrive operation powered the BRX team to second in the Dakar with Sebastien Loeb at the wheel.
The former WRC and Formula 1 team boss feels the FIA must analyse and act upon the data from this year’s Dakar to ensure Audi doesn’t walk away with the title when it returns to the rally in 2023 with a more…
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