Sebastien Loeb has set his sights on a landmark victory for Bahrain Raid Xtreme in next month’s Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia as he looks to build on the team’s record-breaking achievement in this year’s edition back in January.
Partnered by Fabian Lurquin in the Prodrive Hunter, Loeb takes BRX into the team’s fourth Dakar starting on 5th January, and is determined to better their second place finishes from the past two editions of motorsport’s biggest adventure.
The BRX crew produced a stunning performance in the BRX Prodrive Hunter on the 2023 Dakar, taking 50% of the stage victories and a record breaking six stage wins in succession.
“We’ve had some good results together with Prodrive, but for me the Dakar is my target,” said Loeb. “To make the best over the big stages, Fabian and I will work hand in hand to have the speed, the correct navigation and avoid mechanical problems.
“However, the Dakar always has some ‘hidden things’ at any time, so we’ll piece these together over the huge adventure that this rally always is. I’m looking forward to it.”
With nine World Rally Championship crowns and an impressive set of accolades under his belt from Le Mans and X Games to Touring Cars, Loeb is as motivated as ever as he looks to steer BRX to a first Dakar triumph.
Opening the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship, the fifth Dakar Rally to be staged in Saudi Arabia will be another gruelling test of human endurance and technical engineering.
Over two weeks, a route of nearly 8,000 kilometres includes 12 stages as the rally traverses the Kingdom from north-west to south-east and back again for the finish at Yanbu on the coast of the Red Sea.
The organisers have laid out a taxing route over the tracks in the north to the sheer enormity of the Empty Quarter in the south, where dunes cover an area the size of France.
This time the event includes an extra-long ’48-hour Chrono’ stage at the mid-point, with 600kms to be covered over two days in pure dunes, with service allowed only by the drivers and crew from the BRX race trucks at the overnight bivouac.
Looking ahead to the start, David Richards, Founder and Chairman of Prodrive, said: “If I turn the clock back and think to when we started this programme with Bahrain, and remember how much work has gone into our Rally Raid Programme, I have to say I’m very proud of what we have achieved.”
The BRX Prodrive Hunter will arrive at the start of its fourth Dakar with further developments and utilising sustainable fuel to power through the stages in Saudi.
With no major changes made to the set-up of the engine to accommodate the biofuel created from agricultural waste, the car will again emit 80% less CO2 emissions from the 3.5 litre V6 twin turbo engine during the rally.
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Nissan Formula E Team secured race victory in the final event of the 2023/24 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with Oliver Rowland putting in a masterful drive in the season-ending Round 16 at the London E-Prix.
The new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH has hit the track for the first time, as Aston Martin with The Heart of Racing begins a comprehensive testing programme ahead of the British ultra-luxury sportscar brand’s bid to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright next year and for the first time since 1959.
The new Hypercar, developed by Aston Martin Performance Technologies and works team The Heart of Racing, completed a shakedown and initial evaluation testing in the UK this week, The car was driven by Aston Martin High Performance development driver Darren Turner (GBR), The Heart of Racing’s Mario Farnbacher (DEU) and Harry Tincknell (GBR), who won the LMGTE class of the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans with Aston Martin.
Aston Martin with The Heart of Racing will now commence a full development schedule to prepare the car ahead of FIA homologation in the autumn and its competitive debut in early 2025. The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH is the first racing car to be built to Hypercar regulations to contest both the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] and the US-based IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] simultaneously.
The Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH is unique in the top Hypercar class of global endurance motorsport in that it is the only one among its contemporaries to derive its roots from an existing production-based extreme performance car – Aston Martin Valkyrie, the ultimate hypercar. Works team The Heart of Racing will enter two Valkyrie AMR-LMH contenders in WEC and a single car in IMSA in 2025.
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport, said: “The Valkyrie AMR-LMH sets its own standard as a thoroughbred endurance competition car. It is a pure, leading edge racing machine, and while it is very early in the testing cycle, from what we have witnessed so far, we are satisfied that it is achieving the targets and criteria we have set out for it to accomplish.”
The last day of the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed was nothing short of spectacular. Over the five-day event, hundreds of vehicles, ranging from turn-of-the-century machines to modern hypercars, took on the iconic 1.16-mile hill climb. This year, the top 10 fastest cars showcased a thrilling mix of vintage Formula One racers and cutting-edge sports cars. Some were veterans of the hill climb, while others made their debut in style. Let's dive into the details of the 10 fastest cars at this year's event.
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