the essential
Returning from the Dakar, where he finished in 6th place in the overall car standings, with his Var driver Mathieu Serradori, the Saint-Affricain Loïc Minaudier looks back on these fifteen days of intense competition.
What is your state of mind after this Dakar?
We are more than satisfied, we are super happy. As we said before the start, our objective was to give the best of ourselves without worrying too much about others and to have fun in our race. That’s what we did and we realized that even with small resources and constantly evolving equipment, we managed to compete with the big guys, which is still enormous. We have nothing to be ashamed of our performance. We were able to rely on a high-performance team (the second buggy entered by the Century team and driven by South African Brian Baragwanath finished 10th, Editor’s note).
Was the 2025 edition as tough as people say?
Overall, I would say this is the hardest Dakar we have done in Saudi Arabia. The first week, we had the 48 hour stage, then the marathon, this put everyone to the test and pushed themselves to the limit. Every step we had was difficult. And we wondered how difficult we could go. There was not a single moment of respite. On the navigation side, the road book contained much more information with close notes, which made navigation more complex. But hey, it’s up to us to adapt to what is offered to us and that’s what we tried to do for the best. With the stress of the race, the stress of the time, the difficulties in passing, the competition in which we have to be the best, not necessarily the fastest but the smartest, it was not easy to manage and we had to know how to get out from his comfort zone. It was hard, but what fun! This year, from the first to the last, like I said (in our Saturday edition), it’s a victory to have gone all the way.
Numerous punctures and struggles have been the prerogative of many, even among those we call top drivers, but not for you. What about it?
-We had two small mechanical problems, which ultimately didn’t cause us to lose too much time. And it’s true that we were spared from punctures, particularly in the first week. I think it’s due to Mathieu’s smooth driving, which spared the tires.
If you had to keep only one memory from this edition, what would it be?
It’s difficult to keep just one because there was fun throughout the race, the happiness of finishing in 6th place, and so many others. But I think the best was the day we finished 3rd in the stage after having been in 2nd place for a long time, which we lost at the end for a handful of minutes. Being on the podium among all the professionals is a moment that I will not forget. The satisfaction is all the more intense as our teammate from Century (Brian Baragwanath, editor) finished 4th just behind us and we were able to savor it all with the team who gave everything. A team that I would like to thank, because it was the key to our success.
Swiss
