Dakar Rally 2023

The effort paid off: Team Audi Sport shaped the 2023 Dakar Rally with innovation and performance right up to the end despite various setbacks. The Audi RS Q e-tron with its electric drive concept scored a total of 14 podium results on 15 event days including the prologue. In addition, the Audi drivers led the rally in Saudi Arabia with the prototype for three days for the first time. However, a series of punctures, the accident-related retirements of Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz and Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger as well as a massive loss of time for Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist prevented a better result than 14th place.

For Team Audi Sport, the first half of the 2023 Dakar Rally was an emotionally intense mix: Two stage victories and the Audi RS Q e-tron’s first three days in the lead at the world’s toughest rally were offset by setbacks for all three driver teams. Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist were leading in Saudi Arabia after the prologue, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz on the two following days. However, different damage on the hard stages threw them far back. Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger were in second place after the fourth special stage but dropped out two days later due to an accident.