N° 559 - TEAM TOYOTA FRANCE
Roger DARROUX
DARROUX
Roger
FRA
16/03/1949
173 cm
100 kg
Alain COQUELLE
COQUELLE
Alain
FRA
28/06/1961
192 cm
100 kg
KEDZIERSKI
Hervé
FRA
22/06/1973
175 cm
74 kg
Vehicle
MODEL MAKE
KERAX RENAULT
RANKING
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Scratch 66 73 - - 61 - - 50 40 43 - - 30 52
Stage 66 73 - - 61 - - 50 39 39 - 47 30 52 - -
Overall 66 68 - - 63 - - 54 52 48 - 45 44 46 - -

Roger Darroux: "Get as many cars to the finish"

Time has no effect on Roger Darroux who will start his 19th Dakar. He only competed twice in a car. In 1988 for his first appearance, he took his car to a final 36th position while half of the 450 competitors failed to make it to the end of the first African special. It was to be the beginning of a long story on the Dakar until Roger was to be named the "Dakar St Bernard". His mission, accomplished during many years behind the steering wheel of a T4 truck is still the same: "Get a maximum number of cars to the finish. In 2006 we managed to bring 8 out of 9 cars to Dakar", explains this excellent driver whose job is to conduct trucks filled with tones of wood on the sandy paths of the Landes area. He would be tempted by the real race but sponsors are hard to find. "Added to that, one has to remain at his place", says the father of a girl who is currently in the French National sailing team and of a son who is impatient to one day also go on the Dakar. With Alain Coquelle, he knows that he can count on an expert navigator and a good driver. “We know each other well and we trust each other. We’ll be behind the steering wheel one day each”, explains Alain, a former French off-road champion in 1999. The third man, Hervé Kedzierski has been a part of the Rallyart team assistance crew for a long time. He awaits this new Dakar with philosophy. “It’s a new era. We’ll have cactuses instead of baobabs”, he says. Their mission will need all their experience. Indeed Darroux’s T4 is one of the two fast assistance trucks for the Toyota team that has registered 14 cars.

Dakar start photos on line: www.maindruphoto.com
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