Audi driver teams: expectations fulfilled

Audi Sport is relying on three driver/co-driver combinations at the Dakar Rally that convinced right from the start.

Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist (Sweden), Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger (France) and Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Spain) are the driver teams of the first hour for Audi. They are among the best in their field and have fulfilled the expectations placed in them in tests and in competition from their debut season. “Carlos Sainz, who I already admired in the World Rally Championship and with whom we are now working, Stéphane Peterhansel, who has remained relaxed and modest even after 14 Dakar victories, a guarantor of success like Mattias Ekström, with whom I have had a good relationship for years – simply great drivers!” says Head of Audi Sport Rolf Michl. “And with Lucas Cruz, Edouard Boulanger and Emil Bergkvist we have co-drivers who are just as strong in character and first-class.”

“At the Dakar Rally, teamwork and reliabilty are crucial,” says Sven Quandt, team principal of Q Motorsport. “You need a well-bonded team, a super reliable car and reliable driver teams. You can’t permanently drive at the limit in the Dakar Rally. The right strategy is crucial. Our three strong teams proved their qualities from the beginning.”

Mattias Ekström (44) has spent almost his entire career under the banner of the four rings, particularly in the DTM, where he won the title twice with Audi (2004 and 2007). The Swede underlined his versatility by winning the World Rallycross Championship in 2016, as well as successful stints in the World Rally Championship, NASCAR and in Australian Supercars. In 2021 he competed for CUPRA in the new electric off-road series Extreme E, and for the first time the Dakar Rally was also on his schedule. In 2022, he was the best of the three Audi drivers at the Dakar in ninth place and won the Pure ETCR with his CUPRA EKS team.

“I can only learn from all my teammates,” says Ekström. “Carlos is extremely ambitious and emotional and full of energy. I learn everything else from Stéphane: He has just as much success, but is much more composed and calm and strategic. These are the two coolest teammates of my career with very different characters.”

Mattias Ekström’s co-driver is his compatriot Emil Bergkvist (28), who used to be a rally driver himself. “I come from the same region as Mattias. He has always been an idol for me, every motorsport enthusiast in Sweden knows him,” says Bergkvist. “When I stopped driving, I called him and asked if I could work for his team. Since then, I am his co-driver. We never stop learning, every day. At the Morocco 2022 Rally, it all clicked. We’ve reeled off maybe 20,000 kilometers in this project. In Morocco, we understood better what those who create the roadbook are thinking. Now it’s really fun.”

Stéphane Peterhansel (57) is “Mister Dakar” and a living legend in his sport. The Frenchman has won the world’s toughest rally raid 14 times, which includes six victories on a motorcycle and eight more in the car category. He was also the first to achieve an overall victory with the RS Q e-tron – in March 2022 at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. “I’m relaxed. Last year I wasn’t sure if we would finish the rally. That’s why the finish on the first outing was much more than we expected,” says Peterhansel. “I’m confident after our rally in Morocco went well with the new car in the fall of 2022. We have a competitive car, but we also face strong competition in the Dakar Rally.”

Peterhansel’s co-driver Edouard Boulanger (43) shares his compatriot’s views: “The 2023 Dakar Rally will be particularly exciting with mature technology. It will be an intense battle right from the start because all the teams have proven technology. It will be a nice sporting contest between a good ten participants.”

The trained engineer has become familiar with the Dakar Rally over many years in various functions. In 2021, he started together with Stéphane Peterhansel for the first time and won the rally outright. “I’ve admired Stéphane since I was a kid,” says Boulanger. “We have known each other personally for 13 years and have been working together in the cockpit for two years. He is the best in the sport.”

Carlos Sainz (60) is also a living legend. The Spaniard contested the World Rally Championship for several decades and won it twice (1990, 1992). He has celebrated three Dakar Rally victories to date: in 2010, 2018 and most recently in 2020 at the premiere in Saudi Arabia. “Even at 60, I’m still hungry, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken on this new challenge,” says Sainz. “Even as a child, it was my dream to become a rally driver. My passion is unchanged.”

The Audi brand has always been something very special for “El Matador”. “The Audi quattro changed the World Rally Championship forever,” says Sainz. “Now we are trying something similar at the Dakar Rally. The engineers have much more freedom in the Dakar Rally than in other racing series. I have full confidence in the Audi brand. When I joined Audi, I said don’t underestimate the Dakar. And they didn’t. They trusted the direction we wanted to take the project. And that is now the success. We had a very successful first year thanks to the technology. It was the right approach by both parties.”

Sainz will share the cockpit with Lucas Cruz (47), who was part of one of his countryman’s junior rally teams at the start of his career, before discovering rally raids for himself. “2023 is my 22nd year in the sport,” says Cruz. “I have competed in the Dakar Rally with different drivers before Carlos asked me to work with him at Volkswagen in 2009. I would never have dreamed of doing that. A year later, we won the Dakar together for the first time and three times since then.”

“It will be a real Dakar with longer stages, more hours per day, more days. It’s going to be tough,” Cruz says, looking ahead to 2023. “For the stages in the Empty Quarter region, we do extra fitness exercises because of the length of the route in those conditions. We’re in the car a lot longer. Four, five hours at high speed, a bit like we used to do in South America.”