Team Dessoude: A new Dakar "almost" completed... 19.01.2014: DAKAR 2014 Team Dessoude The 2014 edition of the Dakar ended in pain for Team Dessoude

DAKAR 2014 Team Dessoude




The 2014 edition of the Dakar ended in pain for Team Dessoude after the retirement of Frédéric Chavigny and Guy Leneveu only 4km from the finish of the final stage ...


 A retirement occured after the Proto Atacama rolled over. Fortunately the crew is not injured despite a big scare.


Stunned by the news, André Dessoude and his team were concerned with Frederic’s health, who was transported by helicopter to the hospital in Valparaiso. Finally, the driver suffers bruising consecutive to the impact while Guy Leneveu is unhurt.
 
     
This morning, news are good and the health of the crew has no concern. Stiff but as always with a good sense of humour, Frederic talks about a Dakar quite different comparing to the previous ones.


"I can confirm the famous sentence ... a rally is not over until you have crossed the finish line! Last night, I feel like 95 years old ... This morning, I would say 90 and gradually the situation will return to normal . Although the rally stopped for us 4 km from the finish, I think we have completed our Dakar. We are lucky and both alive.


This Dakar is one of the hardest I have participated. It was a mix of the hardest stages since the rally takes place in South America. I rather regret that we ran several times on the same stages, I feel sometimes that we are circling. For example, this was the third time we had yesterday's stage.


We did not explore new areas this year. I am now focused on the future. I plan to enter again the Silk Way rally, a race I really enjoy. But before that, I will first recover 100%!”
 

  Relieved by the news after the accident, André Dessoude explains his point of view about this event where only 44% of cars on the starting line were at the finish.


"After the crash of yesterday, I’m now reassured about the crew. Things could have ended very badly for Frederic and Guy but fortunately all is well.


I think this is the first time that none of the cars of team do not finish the race... On the Dakar, there are always many incidents and with a little luck, you can get through. But this year, we were not lucky. But on technical matters we are quite satisfied despite in terms on results we had to pay a huge bill! This edition of the Dakar was terrible and there are only sixty cars in Valparaiso .


As soon as we return to Saint-Lô , we will be back to work and rebuild the cars. We should enter the Silk Way Rally and perhaps the new race held in China. Perhaps we will also enter one or two events in Portugal. I hope the rest of the season will be better than the Dakar in terms of results because the past two weeks were really tough."




The Dakar 2014 is over and we have now to wait for the 2015 edition with maybe new countries to be visited. And that’s for sure, Team Dessoude will take his revenge next year.
 



 
Géraldine DESHAYES, photos DPPI