Twenty Five years after Peugeot last contested the Dakar rally, the French manufacturer will return in 2015 with Carlos Sainz and Cyril Despres. After last year’s 20-kilometre sprint on tarmac in Colorado, resulting in a historic win for Sebastien Loeb in the 208 T16 Pikes Peak, Team Peugeot TOTAL will now take on this even greater challenge in a new car. The new 2008 DKR, which will be unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show on April 20th, has been developed by the same team who created the 208 T16 Pikes Peak. It will be tested to the absolute limit during its 2-week marathon over 10,000km across Latin America when it takes up its challenge in January 2015.
Commenting on the announcement, Peugeot CEO Maxime Picat said, “Our Pikes Peak programme was a success because we succeeded in bringing together an outstanding driver, a remarkable team and a car of the very highest quality. We have set our sights high for the Dakar, too. We are perfectly aware that the Dakar is a very difficult event but our aim is nonetheless to win at first attempt in 2015.”
Below is a video clip from 25 years ago when Peugeot won the legendary Dakar rally four years in a row, from 1987 to 1990, with the 205 T16 and the 405 T16 Grand Raid.
