Reigning Dakar winner Peterhansel can forget about new title after crash

A drama for Stephane Peterhansel. On the second day is a new victory for the reigning Dakar winner already completely out of the picture. The Frenchman crashed in the first, real stage, causing his electric Audi to be heavily damaged.

Rear axle broken

In the prologue Peterhansel finished fourteenth. In the first stage things went well, because he was second behind leader Nasser Al-Attiyah of Toyota for a long time. The difference between the two was barely six seconds. But when Peterhansel drove over a winding rocky path, the Frenchman had an accident in which the rear axle of his car broke.

Both Peterhansel and his co-driver Edouard Boulanger were unhurt in the crash. They did have to call the emergency vehicles to repair the damage to their car. The accident happened at 11.40am local time and hours have passed since then. As a result Peterhansel can forget about a fifteenth overall victory in Dakar for the time being.

Continue

It is still unclear if Peterhansel will be able to finish the Dakar rally at all. He will probably keep going as long as possible because Audi wants to further develop its new electric car. With a retirement on the second day that would be very difficult.