Winning the Dakar Rally is one of the most challenging feats in motorsport. So when a manufacturer develops a winning platform, it tends to stay at the front of the pack for years.
A decade ago, for example, Mitsubishi took overall victory seven years in a row. Then it was Volkswagen's turn for three years, followed by Mini for the next four. These days, it's all about Peugeot, which has won for the past two years. What you see here is the vehicle with which it aims to score a hat trick.
Called the 3008DKR Maxi, it's an evolution of the 3008DKR that dominated the event last year (and the 2008DKR that won the year before). The general parameters are the same – the major difference is that the new Maxi is wider. Nearly 8 inches wider, in fact, to better help it cope with the difficult terrain. That necessitated a completely new suspension, but while the full specs have yet to be revealed, we're likely looking at the same specs as last year's model.
The 3008DKR packs a 3.0-liter twin-turbodiesel V6 mounted amidships behind the cockpit, sending 340 horsepower not to all four wheels, but just two. Forgoing the added traction gives Peugeot the advantage of a loophole in the rule book that's made it the first two-wheel-driver to win the rally in a decade and a half, stretching back to Jean-Louis Schlesser's Renault-powered buggy that last won in 2000 when the rally still started in Paris and ended in Dakar.
Though still in development, the new 3008DKR Maxi will make its debut next month in the Silk Way Rally, running through Russia and China. One will be driven by nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb, another by the current and thirteen-time Dakar champion Stephane Peterhansel, and the third by last year's Silk Way winner Cyril Despres. Carlos Sainz will join the team with the fourth vehicle for the Dakar in January.
"I think the car is much more stable now that it is wider, and so it feels a bit different to drive," said Loeb of the new Maxi. "With its wide track and big wheels, it can go more or less anywhere. It’s maybe not so agile on stage-type roads: that’s more the territory of four-wheel drive cars. But the advantage of our car is the fact that it can tackle anything, especially the dunes."
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