The 2022 Dakar Rally ended on January 14, Saudi local time, the competition for the last stage , the 12th stage competition.
Qatari driver Al Atiyah, who drove a Toyota race car, won the overall championship, which was the fourth time in his career that he won the Dakar automotive championship.
Runner-up overall was BRX Team Roadmaster Loeb, who was more than half an hour behind Atiya in terms of overall time. The WRC nine-time winner No. 14 has just finished running the Dakar and will be back in Europe in two days to test the WRC car for the new 2022 season.
Toyota became the biggest winner in 2022 Dakar, and in the 2021 season just past, Toyota also won the WRC and WEC, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Toyota Dakar's GR DKR Hilux T1 car represents the most classic design of the fuel era, while retaining the mid-engine layout and core cockpit layout that has been used since The Dakar in 2016.
It is equipped with a 3.5T twin-turbo V6 engine, which is based on the engine of the newly released Toyota flagship model, the new Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR SPORT, which has a lower slewing range than the predecessor to enhance torque.
The total weight of the vehicle has been increased to the specified 2000 kg, and the performance is limited by the rules established by the FIA, providing 298 kW of power and about 660 Nm of torque, which is entirely within the performance range of mass production.
But traditional fuel teams, including Toyota and BRX, are taking on the challenge of a new Audi team – the Audi team is all-electric, and the new RS Q e-tron with fuel engine as a range extender is fast.
In the 12-stage race in Dakar in 2022, the all-electric Audi RS Q e-tron won the fastest 4 stages and reached the top three stages 12 times. Sainz won two stages of the tournament.
It can be said that racing fuel cars retain their dignity, but electric vehicles have made them shiver.
The first year of the Audi RS Q e-tron lost not because of speed and experience, but just bad luck.
Three-time Dakar champion in the first stage and two-time WRC champion Sainz encountered navigation problems and lost 2 hours. Another Audi driver, Extom, also lost a lot of time getting lost.
The third Audi driver, 14-time champion "Mr. Dakar" Peter Hansel suffered a rear axle break, and the penalty time has been more than 23 hours, and his 15-crown hopes have been dashed.
The Audi RS Q e-tron is a 100% electric drive car with an electric drive (MGU) from the 2021 Audi e-tron FE07 Formula E car, which Audi says achieves more than 97% system efficiency in Formula E and has little room for improvement.
In order to meet the particularity of the Dakar Rally, this set of power will be slightly modified, and the combined maximum output of the front and rear dual motors will reach 500 kW, and if the firepower is fully open, the advantage will be obvious in the race.
The Audi RS Q e-tron is not a pure electric vehicle, it is a range-extended electric vehicle. It is equipped with a 50kWh battery pack with a battery weight of about 370 kg.
Audi put their 2.0T turbocharged engine on top of the Audi RS Q e-tron for the RS5 DTM , but its role was simply to generate electricity. The engine will always operate between 4500-6000 rpm during the race, which is its optimal work efficiency and is used to provide a stable power output.
Despite a bad start to Audi 2022 Dakar, it has proven the speed of electric drive racing and they will certainly make a comeback next year.
Know that the two fastest and most experienced drivers in dakar races include 14-time "Mr. Dakar" Peter Hansel, the 14th champion of the great god class, and three-time Dakar champion and two-time WRC champion Sainz. They all chose the Audi team.
According to their experience of choosing Volkswagen and MINI teams that year: the first year is often a year of running-in, and the second year is only when they start to make a threat and finally win the championship.