Before the very last preparations and fine-tuning which are always necessary, a decisive week from an organisational point of view has just come to a close for the Dakar. All the teams involved in the smooth running of the rally have received their instructions…
Preparations for the Dakar run throughout the year. The riders and drivers, often racing to raise their budgets, beavering away in their workshops or spending their spare time in fitness centres or swimming pools rather than in a cinema, are perfectly aware of this fact. The same is true, arguably to a greater extent, for the rally’s organisational teams, who are under an absolute obligation to produce results, from the first to the last stage. In the build-up that precedes the race, a decisive week has just come to a close with a series of general briefings for the members of the organisational teams, service providers and race crew members who will be involved in keeping the “Dakar machine” running from Rosario to Valparaiso. Less than a month from the start of the event, naturally everything has been planned as regards the route, logistics, personnel involved, etc. However, each and everyone needs to be exactly aware of his or her role in this sometimes complex mechanism and, according to Etienne Lavigne, this is precisely the aim of such meetings. “In fact, it’s a big check-list that we need to run through before take-off, to ensure that everybody is absolutely ready. Each time, this requires explanations, so that the newcomers get a perfect feel of just how we operate. For example, the distinctive features of this year, with several stages having different routes for the different categories, mean that we need to make a precise evaluation of the situation to avoid any unpleasant surprises,” explains the Director of the Dakar on completion of the French stage of these briefings.
Indeed, the series of meetings started in Issy-les-Moulineaux with an overview concerning the A.S.O. teams taking part in the rally. Afterwards, it was almost the entire race HQ, split between the rally and Paris in January, which was brought together to reacquaint themselves with the day-to-day procedure of the event. To get back into the swing of things, there is nothing like a simulation exercise to anticipate the different types of situations that may occur. “For more than three hours, we worked in real-time on the scenario of a complex stage, taking Salta-Uyuni as an example,” explains Pascal Queiriel, formerly head of the race HQ. “There were around thirty people who were all called upon to react to the safety incidents that occurred according to the respective roles they fulfilled. We planned plenty of different cases, some of which were mightily strange, but which all correspond with situations that we have already experienced: what happens when one of the helicopters breaks down at the start of the stage? How do you communicate with an injured rider or driver who can only speak Mongolian? We need to be able to find the best solution on the spot, so it is very useful to prepare for this. Making this problem-solving state of mind a habit is a help to everybody”. Thereafter, around one hundred race crew members and race officials came to Paris to listen to the clarifications dispensed by David Castera and Etienne Lavigne. The second stage of the briefing series will take place in Argentina as from the end of this week, with all the South Americans involved in organising the Dakar.
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