Audi RS Q e-tron to join Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on March 6

MANILA: The Audi RS Q e-tron, which made its debut at the Dakar Rally in January with four stage victories, will compete in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge from March 6 to 10. The revolutionary desert prototype is equipped with an electric drivetrain, a high-voltage battery, and a highly efficient energy converter. Team Audi Sport will field a car with factory drivers Stephane Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger in the second round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.

Peterhansel has already won this event seven times. He won his first race on a motorcycle in 1996, and clinched six wins in a car since 2002. His most recent win was in 2019, with his wife Andrea as co-driver.

“Stéphane Peterhansel also brings the highest level of experience to this event in particular,” Audi Sport GmbH Managing Director Julius Seebach stated. “Two terms stand for the Dakar debut of Stéphane with co-driver Edouard Boulanger in the Audi RS Q e-tron: stage victory and strong team play. Setbacks aside, they demonstrated first-class sportsmanship and put themselves entirely at the service of the team. Now they can show in Abu Dhabi what’s possible in sporting terms in our second rally event.”

The rally is substantially shorter than the season opener, held nine weeks earlier. The daily stages range between 217 to 318 km and add up to 1,342 km. The proportion of timed kilometers is quite high at 69%, with a total rally distance of 1,933 km including liaison stages. Despite the event’s compact overall format, Peterhansel is not underestimating it.

“Experience shows that around 80 percent of the route of this rally is in large dune mountains, the remaining 20% on flatter sandy ground without any tracks. At the Dakar, there were at most 60 km of dunes at a stretch. Likewise, the heat is higher now than in January,” Peterhansel said.

With this, Audi and its team partner Q Motorsport anticipate are expecting new hurdles. The RS Q e-tron must prove itself in temperatures that have not been experienced in the Dakar Rally. The warmer sand is always softer as well. This factor, together with the long dune traverses, results in a large increase in energy consumption. “Our energy systems performed very well in January. The tasks in Abu Dhabi are a clear increase,” Peterhansel stated.

Another factor is that cars are more likely to be stuck in soft sand. The Audi factory driver finds an advantage in the electric drive on the often step and long dune climbs. “The dune crests are the most difficult: If you drive too slowly, you lose time or get stuck. If you’re too fast, you risk jumping into the unknown. With conventional rally cars, you always have to decide on a gear and can make a mistake. The continuously variable drive of the Audi RS Q e-tron on the other hand is perfect, as is the high torque,” he added.

One noteworthy difference between the Dakar rally and the Abu Dhabi Rally is that navigation is generally easier in latter. This time, Boulanger is given the road book’s hidden “waypoint masque,” which can be difficult to locate. The organizer’s navigation aids clearly indicate these virtual terrain markers. This also means that in Abu Dhabi, navigational skills, such as those that distinguish an expert co-driver like Boulanger, are less important.

Peterhansel and Boulanger will be using the RS Q e-tron that they already drove in January. After the Dakar Rally, chassis number 104 remained in the Arabian Peninsula, then there was a detour to Dubai. The rally prototype met an Audi R8 LMS, the newly crowned winner of the Dubai 24 Hours, at the “Flat 12” event location. The RS Q e-tron then continued on to Abu Dhabi. “We had a trouble-free second Dakar week in which we were able to set some nice highlights. Now, we want to try and clinch our first podium result,” Peterhansel said.

Fans all over the world can expect comprehensive coverage once again. Audi is continuing its Inside Show on Facebook and audimedia.tv in Abu Dhabi. Presenter Molly Pettit gives daily recaps, background information, and interviews. Audi also updates its Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram channels with news on the RS Q e-tron’s second deployment.

Photos from Audi

Also read: Audi PH introduces EV charging solutions with e-tron models