The Beláusteguis exchange tips

Luis Beláustegui's dream came to an abrupt end 20 kilometres into the Nazca-Pisco special. A fall, a fracture of the left wrist and the end of a dream which began last year: finishing the Dakar with a 150 cc motorcycle. On the other hand, falls are the daily bread of Juan Manuel. The older brother fell three or four times in each stage. "But never into the water", he says. "Always on the sand." Brothers at the Dakar can either do everything together, like the Patronellis, or simply try to do their best, like the Beláusteguis. Juan Manuel found Luis hurt in the penultimate stage. "I gave my brother a painkiller. He couldn't use his wrist, so he said '¡Vete!'(go!)." In the marathon stage it was Luis who helped his brother after the latter had smashed his motorcycle following a 120 km/h fall, by escorting him to the bivouac. Juan Manuel seems poised to achieve his goal in what is his first participation. Luis has finished sixteen stages over two years, but has yet to make it to the end of a Dakar.

The problem is the others

An extra-hard level of difficulty. Philippe Raud signed up for the Dakar this year with a challenge he had never tried before: to take part in the rally with a rapid assistance team for three other vehicles. Therefore, he had to race at the back of the field while staying as close as possibly to these other vehicles. But that did not prevent him from having his fair share of mishaps. "We had problems throughout the entire first week. Indeed, in the big dune stage we had to drive without lights all night long! We were congratulated by David Castera at the finish." The personalities of the car no. 400 crew are obviously quite strong. Philippe shares the vehicle with Patrice Saint Marc: "Once our problems had been solved, it was the others' problems which forced us to spend nights in the open air. In the Arequipa stage we had to tow Gérald Mognier's car for the entire second special. It just seemed to go on forever." All in all, Philippe Raud did not expect the challenge to be so tough: "I wanted to see what it was like to do a Dakar like this, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. It was the toughest one I've done so far. But it also gave me another view of the race and some perspective."