Audi Prepares RS Q e-tron For Debut Run At the Dakar Rally
As the 2022 Dakar Rally draws ever closer, the Audi Sport team shares an update on their RS Q e-tron tests in Germany, Spain and Morocco.
Rallying is in Audi’s blood. It’s where Ingolstadt changed the world forever by using all four wheels to deliver the goods in the Group B era of the early to mid-Eighties. Though it hasn’t been on the scene since then, the company hasn’t forgotten. Thus, in 2022, Audi will enter the Dakar Rally for the first time with another world-changing technology, living in the form of the RS Q e-tron.
Announced back in June, the RS Q e-tron uses Formula E-derived electric motors to deliver 671 horses to the terrain, according to Car and Driver. Those horses got a workout recently, as Audi themselves report in their latest installment of The Road to Dakar.
“For Audi, the upcoming Dakar Rally means entering a new field in motorsport,” said Audi Sport managing director Julius Seelbach. “And the thing with new projects is, that there is no blueprint.”
With Audi Sport driver Carlos Sainz lending his skills to the RS Q e-tron, the Dakar Rally team began tests in Germany. After getting a rough idea of what the rally monster can do in close quarters, the crew moved on to Zaragosa, Spain. There, the RS Q e-tron took its first jumps like a pro. Finally, Morocco called out, ready to show everything it had, while allowing the same for the electric beast.
“Coming here, obviously, it’s a great challenge for the car,” said Sainz. “Because we face new problems that we didn’t find in Europe. But this is why we are coming here, and this is where we need to learn what to do to solve these problems.”
Seelbach says the tests in Morocco were meant to demonstrate how well the RS Q e-tron would fare on the Dakar itself. The desert provided the most accurate environment in terms of climate and terrain. And with electric power on-board, a test for all EVs in the most extreme conditions overall.
“Innovation takes time” said Seelbach. “And we look forward to getting it done. Until the day we are on the Dakar starting line, we will keeping pushing to present what we think is the next step into the future of motorsport.”
Click HERE to join the AudiWorld forums!
