Julius Seebach admits he had a lump in his throat when Audi’s ground-breaking RS Q e-tron off-roader rolled away from the startline at the Dakar Rally in January.
“Stephane Peterhansel was the first to start as he was the winner last year [in a Mini JCW buggy],” explains the managing director of Audi Sport, “and it was a very emotional moment given the car had only been finished just two hours beforehand.
“When he started you could hear this electric sound, a whine… The second starter was Nasser [Al-Attiyah, the eventual winner, driving Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Hilux] who left with the sound of conventional technology: vroom! There you could see, feel and hear the difference between the two concepts.”
Nearly two weeks later, all three of Audi’s RS Q e-trons returned to the Jeddah finish of the epic adventure in one piece, each with rollercoaster tales of exhilarating highs and frustrating dips. Such is life on what has a strong claim to be motorsport’s toughest event.
On paper and at first glance, the results of Audi’s maiden Dakar campaign might not look spectacular: ninth place overall for two-time DTM champion, former World Rallycross title winner and Dakar car category rookie Mattias Ekstrom; 12th for rally legend and three-time Dakar victor Carlos Sainz Sr; and a lowly 59th for ‘Mr Dakar’ himself, 14-time event winner Peterhansel. But among the setbacks in Audi’s debut on the rally based these days in the Saudi Arabian desert, of more significance were the epic stage wins each of the trio took: four in total out of the 12 legs run.
The pace of the new racer was all too clear, and perhaps more impressively and certainly more surprisingly, not one of the problems the Audis encountered was caused by failures within its complex, pioneering hybrid battery-powered technology. The Audi is a genuine game-changer for the Dakar and its rally raid world.
While it didn’t challenge for the overall victory, Audi impressed on its Dakar debut utilising three motor generator units, TFSI petrol engine and a 50kWh battery
Photo by: A.S.O.
“We are very pleased with our success because it is much more than we expected for our first Dakar, especially when you take into account we only had 12 months of preparation,” says Seebach.
“There were no issues or problems with our powertrain concept, just down-to-earth stuff with our suspension dampers. This is a proof of concept and shows what the future will look like. Electric mobility is our future and I also think this was a big contribution to the sport of rallying to show what is possible with this kind of technology.”
Eyebrows were raised when Audi announced at the end of November 2020 that it was quitting Formula E in favour of two new campaigns. A return to Le Mans with an LMDh programme? Not exactly a shock for the 13-time winner of the 24 Hours. But a maiden Dakar campaign? With an electric-powered hybrid off-roader? No one saw that coming. So what was the attraction?
“So far it has been a competition just for the internal combustion engine: all the stage wins and overall wins were with conventional technology. But the new regulations gave us the freedom to do our own concept for overall victory” Julius Seebach
“The Dakar is a competition in the toughest conditions in the world,” says Seebach. “So far it has been a competition just for the internal combustion engine: all the stage wins and overall wins were with conventional technology. But the new regulations gave us the freedom to do our own concept for overall victory.”
He’s referring to the new T1 Ultimate class, designed to encourage renewable energy motorsport and in which Audi is so far the only entry.
“The Dakar is the only race in the world where you can go 600km in one day in open terrain,” says Sven Quandt, whose specialist Q Motorsport concern runs the Audi assault, on the back of Quandt’s three decades of rally raid experience and his company’s six victories on the epic event.
“The new class means you can join with whatever technology you want and it’s the best option as a showcase, to show new technology is working, over two weeks in the toughest conditions. It shows a car that is able to finish the Dakar can be produced and sold to the public with similar technology. It’s a proving ground.”
“And we are challenging the status quo,” adds Seebach.
Quandt congratulates Mattias Ekstrom after the Swede’s fastest time on Stage 8
Photo by: Audi Communications Motorsport
The concept chosen was centred around that old, familiar mantra of Vorsprung durch Technik that has served Audi so well through its Quattro rally years, the pioneering diesel and hybrid Le Mans campaigns, and in Formula E.
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The drivetrain is complex, inevitably heavy and must have required a doctorate in Jenga for packaging, thanks to its three motor generator units (MGUs), TFSI petrol engine, clever software-driven centre differential with variable torque distribution, plus a high-voltage 50kWh battery. Even a man of Quandt’s experience must have wondered what he was letting himself in for, especially in a timeframe that left little more than a year for build and preparation, and made the toughest demands on Audi’s hard-pressed suppliers of componentry.
“Honestly, in the beginning all of us were underestimating what was waiting for us,” Quandt admits. “With Axel Loeffler [Audi’s chief designer on race cars], who is basically the father of ideas from the Audi side, we spent quite some nights discussing the options we had.
“It is not so easy to find something that we can be sure would work, where you can run the full kilometres and a stage without refuelling. This was a very important point on our calculation. We looked at hydrogen, but it is not an option because of a lack of range. Efficiency was also very important. Our concept was the best to achieve our goals.
“We had a concept, we discussed it in depth and went through everything to decide it was possible. Then when we started to develop the car we realised space was an issue because there is no space for everything! You have so many more components than in a regular car, but you don’t want to make it big.
“On software I don’t know whether we are up to 20 or 50 [update iterations]. It’s an incredible amount. We wanted to do 8000-9000km [of testing] with a more or less finished car, but in the end we couldn’t do everything because the car was basically only ready on 31 December 2021.”
The rally started the next day, on 1 January…
Audi got all three cars home to the finish, a significant accomplishment given the tight turnaround time
Photo by: Audi Communications Motorsport
“The last things we changed were at the hotel in the parking lot, where we made the final software updates,” adds Quandt. “It was one and a half years from the first thought to the finished car, which is very short for something as complex as this.”
Seebach also talks up the team effort and ‘can-do’ spirit as a big contributor to the successful debut.
“It is obvious this is the most complex car we’ve ever done at Audi Motorsport, in the smallest timeline we’ve ever had,” he says. “To bring together three electric engines, the highly efficient TFSI engine from DTM, in a new car on a terrain you don’t know… but also we were in the desert with about 80 people from Q Motorsport and Audi, including marketing and press. Everything worked better each day, which was really good to see. We overcame all the challenges.”
The setbacks represented all-too-familiar Dakar troubles. Peterhansel incurred big damage to his RS Q e-tron on the very first day when he smashed into a rock, then a subsequent penalty left him far out of contention for a 15th win. Meanwhile, both Sainz and Ekstrom were among the victims of roadbook inaccuracies that led to navigational errors from which they could never recover.
“They can try and stop us on the political side… but our aim absolutely is to win the Dakar. We all know you cannot guarantee anything because it is one of the most difficult races” Sven Quandt
But then on day three, Sainz scored Audi’s first stage win – third time lucky on the Dakar? No mean achievement, only to then suffer a series of suspension failures that required help in the desert from Peterhansel (who gave up a likely stage win to lend a hand) and some quick thinking from the team to find a solution. But thereafter and into the second week, all three drivers won stages to leave their rivals with furrowed brows for the future.
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Before the event was over, there was talk that a Balance of Performance to throttle back the Audi’s apparent performance advantage is vital if the Dakar is to remain competitive for ‘traditional’ power. It clearly grates with Quandt.
“It’s always the same,” he says. “When you have a good performance everybody is jealous and wants to bring you down and try to do it in a political way. I can tell you I have encountered this many times. But look at the drivers: at the moment there are only four or five who have the maximum speed.
RS Q e-tron is credited as being the most complex project Audi Sport has ever been engaged in
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“We also know Nasser was not pushing after day three, [the competition] was finished for him because he could just bring it home. So we will never know what the Toyota is really able to do. Until we know, there is no discussion about Balance of Performance. For sure they will try, but I think it is totally unfair.”
Work is already under way on an evolution of the RS Q e-tron, while the current car will undertake a limited campaign of other events this year, with the 2023 Dakar the only focus in mind.
“Obviously we will do a bit more work on the suspension, and on the weight because we are over by quite a bit,” says Quandt. “We have here and there issues that need a quick fix. We need to be more service orientated because at the moment we are not service-friendly. But that’s about it.”
So what would a successful 2023 Dakar Rally look like for Audi?
“Overall win,” fires back Seebach.
“No question,” says Quandt with a laugh. “They can try and stop us on the political side… but our aim absolutely is to win the Dakar. We all know you cannot guarantee anything because it is one of the most difficult races. Previously I’ve lost on the last day and this is always possible. But after this year’s performance we all know our goal.”
Quandt is flanked by Ekstrom and Sainz at the finish. He’s targeting a victory in 2023
Photo by: Audi Communications Motorsport
The hydrogen option
Sven Quandt dismissed a hydrogen-powered option for Audi if it wanted to contend for overall victory on the Dakar Rally. But that’s not the end of the story for the ‘other’ big alternative power solution expected to play a major part in our future mobility.
Green Corp Konnection, better known as GCK Motorsport, showcased its hydrogen-powered contender at the Dakar Rally this year, which it hopes to race at the 2024 edition. The project is a collaboration with German company FEV and revolves around a fuel cell containing 20kg of hydrogen maintained at a pressure of 700 bar, with a power capability of 200kW (268bhp). The fuel cell is connected directly, like the Audi, to a 50kWh lithium-ion battery and a twin-gear electric motor for a final output of 320kW – about 430bhp.
The Q Motorsport boss reckons only 250km is possible with a hydrogen fuel cell, which is less than half the job required for a Dakar stage
Lag on and off the throttle is a problem with hydrogen power, but GCK’s concept uses the battery as a ‘buffer’ to counter this disadvantage. As with all battery solutions, weight is an unavoidable issue at a hefty 2200kg, equivalent to the Audi.
But Quandt has a point on range. The Q Motorsport boss reckons only 250km is possible with a hydrogen fuel cell, which is less than half the job required for a Dakar stage. GCK predicts exactly that for its prototype too, but is banking on a rule change for mid-stage refuelling in line with what is allowed for the T3 and T4 ‘lightweight prototype’ classes.
GCK is also the company behind the exciting all-electric Lancia Delta Integrale set to race in the new-look World Rallycross Championship this year. It’s all good fuel for the ongoing debate on motorsport’s future.
GCK hopes to run its hydrogen contender in the 2024 Dakar, but range may be an issue
Photo by: GCK RX Team
Keyword: How Audi took the Dakar by storm with its hybrid game-changer