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 | SA-Dakar Rally: André Dessoude - "Not a difficult Dakar, but a complicated".
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Five cars in the race, three cars in the Finish - and the best Nissan in the Dakar 2012: The French team Dessoude (former Nissan specialist) started with great ambitions. Biggest surprise: The "Mitsubishi Nissan Racing Lancer" with Christian Lavieille - but he had to retire first.
As far as the French Team Dessoude is concerned, these last two weeks were hardly restful, with both disappointments and satisfaction, as teamchef André Dessoude explained.
"We have had a Dakar which included a mix of disappointments and satisfaction. Disappointment with the premature retirement of Christian Lavieille and the Proto 11 on the third stage, followed a few days later by that of Frédéric Chavigny and his Atacama. Despite these two blows, we did not give up. And satisfaction, as the two Oryx Buggies of Thierry Magnaldi and Isabelle Patissier covered the kilometres until the end without any mechanical problems" the Frenchmen told.
"The T4 fast assistance truck did not have too much work this year. Thierry is classified 15th overall, third in the two-wheel-drive category (second diesel), while Isabelle finished in the top 30, in 29th position. We have been able to continue working on Thierry’s Diesel version, and I think there is a real potential to continue its development."
"As far as the classification, the fesh fesh was our worst enemy, as every time a two-wheel-drive vehicle gets stuck there is an immediate penalty. And we can say that in terms of fesh fesh, we had more than our share this year."
We had a very good surprise in the form of the Chinese Zhou Jihong, who was entering the Dakar for the first time. Behind the wheel of the Proto Dessoude 05, the Chinese driver never grew discouraged despite the all the obstacles in his way, and finished the rally in 19th position, the leading Chinese driver (moreover, the best classified since the event began) and the first rookie. He put in a superb performance for his first event, congratulations! It was not exactly a difficult Dakar, but it was certainly a complicated Dakar."
2012/01/16 | 14:17 CET | ARTICLE: MR/SY/DESSOUDE/HS
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