The 2025 Dakar begins on January 3. Among the competitors, a “new kid”, Olivier Pernaut, the son of Jean-Pierre Pernaut.
Jean-Pierre Pernaut had two passions: current affairs, which he covered for 33 years by presenting the TF1 news at 1 p.m., and car racing. He owed this taste for competition to his uncle Jean-François, a rally driver, and to Jean, his father, founder of the Association Sportive Automobile de Picardie. The journalist transmitted the virus to Olivier, his son. After his adolescence, he learned the basics of sports driving on country roads around Amiens, before entering racing, alongside his father.
For ten years, they regularly participated in the Andros Trophy, an ice racing championship contested in December and January in different mountain resorts. Olivier then continued the adventure alone, and won several titles, until the competition disappeared last year due to climate change.
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What can we do now to avoid spending the winter without holding a steering wheel? Olivier considered different hypotheses before deciding to participate in another, even more prestigious event, the Dakar, in January 2025. “As a child, I followed her on television with my father, and she made me dream”he said. He will share driving and navigation with Benjamin Rivière, a rival on the tracks, but a faithful friend away from the circuits for more than 20 years.
8000 kilometers including 5000 timed
Accustomed to riding on ice rather than in the sand among stones, the two men began by following accelerated training, in the form of two courses in the heart of Morocco. Isabelle Patissier and Thierry Delli Zoti, who have participated in the event several times, and know all the pitfalls, taught them the tricks allowing, in particular, to find the best path to cross a dune.
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“I only knew those of Pyla and Touquet adds Olivier. They are tiny compared to those we will have to cross! ». The duo also learned to orient themselves according to the direction of the wind, and to deal with dips and bumps while avoiding a collision with the car that could prove fatal. They also rode in the footsteps of previous editions before spending a long time understanding and assimilating the thousands of instructions gathered in the road book.
“Reading it is no easy task. Traveling 8,000 kilometers, more than 5,000 of which are timed, requires constant precision. The slightest error in understanding the indications of this digital tablet, the smallest delay by not pressing a button at the precise moment can be very expensive for beginners who, like us, do not know what they can expect. to wait for . On a circuit, the route is always the same. During the Dakar, you never pass the same place twice! » .
It is also essential to know how to control your fear, when faced with dangers that are sure to arrive. “When driving, I never feel this feeling, but, who knows why, when I find myself in the passenger seat, I am never reassured! ». Caution will also be required aboard a Buggy equipped with all the necessary equipment in the event of a breakdown or puncture.
Finally, special physical preparation proved essential during the weeks preceding departure. Traveling 600 to 700 kilometers a day without showing the slightest sign of fatigue, and recovering by spending the night in the desert in a tent requires some training. “We are not here to win or be high in the rankings, but to do the best we can”specifies Olivier Pernaut.
Its only objective is to cross the finish line of the final stage. If he succeeds, he will consider returning in 2026, accompanied by two or three drivers from Orhes Racing, the team he has managed since 2007. What would Jean-Pierre think if he were with us today? “I’m convinced he’d be hyperfied!” »concludes Olivier.
