Two former winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will start the Dakar rally in Lima the capital city of Peru.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Dakar rally push men and machines to their limits, so it comes as no surprise that there is a cross-over of manufacturers and drivers :

• Porsche, 16 wins at Le Mans and 2 in the Dakar.
• Peugeot, 3 wins at Le Mans and 4 in the Dakar.
• Renault and Mercedes, 1 win at Le Mans and 1 in the Dakar.
• Jacky Ickx, 6 wins at Le Mans and 1 in the Dakar.
• Henri Pescarolo, 4 wins at Le Mans and 1 class win in the Dakar.
• Luc Alphand, 1 class podium at Le Mans and 1 win at the Dakar.

On Saturday in Lima, two former winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take the road to Santiago where they should arrive on Sunday, the 20th of January:

• Twenty five years after winning with Jaguar at Le Mans, Jan Lammers will take part in his 4th Dakar in the truck class! Driving a 10 tonne Ginaf (n°528), the man from Zandvoort (Holland) try to improve on his 19th place in class in 2011. The former owner-driver of Racing for Holland continues to exploit the idea of checkerboard sponsorship formerly seen on the Dome at Le Mans in 2001.

• Different Dutch driver in a different class. Five years after his class win at the 24 Hours in LM P2, Peter Van Merksteijn will drive a 4x4 Toyota (n°326) entered by his own team, and in the same colours as seen on his Porsche RS Spyder at Le Mans in 2008.

Gentleman driver Peter Van Merksteijn went endurance racing in a Porsche, rallying in the WRC with a Citroën, and goes Rally Raiding in a Toyota.

Julien HERGAULT

Photo : MOROCCO, RALLY,  Chegaga, 18 OCT 2012. The Toyota Pickup de Peter Van Merksteijn.