Audi looks to win 2023 Dakar with 'Formula 1 car for the desert'

Audi has revealed a lighter, stripped-back version of its RS Q e-tron Dakar car as it looks to win the gruelling rally raid with a hybrid car for the first time

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2023 Audi Dakar car

Audi has revealed its aggressive new RS Q e-tron E2 to compete at next year's Dakar

Audi

Last year Audi made history by being the first entrant to win a Dakar stage with an electric hybrid power unit.

Now with a new wildly different-looking evolution of its desert beast, the RS Q e-tron E2, the German marque claims it can go one further and take overall victory at the blue riband rally raid event.

The new car, which driver Matthias Ekström described as “a Formula 1 car for the desert”, was revealed this afternoon at Audi’s Neuberg motor sport base, featuring much-reduced bodywork in a bid to reduce the efficiency of an unchanged power unit.

The E2 label refers to the final and most extreme iteration of the marque’s legendary Audi Quattro, a car which conquered the WRC in its no-holds-barred Group B era.

Side view of Audi 2023 Dakar car

The new car features much-reduced bodywork

Audi

Audi expects nothing less than a win sooner rather than later, with project leader Sven Quandt telling Motor Sport that “Dakar is Dakar, you never know, but here is a good chance.”

Its driver line-up remains a mini Who’s Who of off-road royalty: Carlos Sainz, Stéphane Peterhansel and Ekström, who believe the target of an overall Dakar win is realistic in 2023.

Four stage wins and nine podiums proved the speed of the original e-tron, which was developed in only 18 months, but the prototype still had issues with reliability, weight and fuel efficiency across the gruelling 8,000km of desert stages. The highest-placed car finished ninth, 2h 42min off the leader.

Audi RS Q e-tron is airborne in 2022 testing

Audi tested its 2023 Dakar challenger in July

Audi RS Q e-tron throws up dust clouds as it tests in 2022
Rear view of Audi RS Q e-tron testing in 2022

As a result, Audi has gone big on having less – the E2 features significantly altered and slimmed-down bodywork.

The aerodynamic surfaces have been completely re-sculpted to improve airflow, made using new composite materials to save on weight – Audi says the redesign results in an improved aerodynamic efficiency of 15%.

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Also removed is the larger rear bodywork – referred to as the ‘elephant’s foot’ – again helping additional weight loss and further optimising airflow.

“The word I would use to describe it is ‘agile’,” Sainz told Motor Sport. “The handling of the previous car wasn’t bad, but now it feels lighter and also has a better weight distribution now – it’s easier to change direction.”

Does searching for significant gains in a new bodywork suggest that it’s still struggling to come up with a viable fully electric power unit solution to take on those unforgiving desert stages, meaning it needs to look elsewhere for efficiency? Perhaps – the e-tron’s top speed remains 170km/h (105mph).

“Everyone saw we had reliability issues,” says Quandt. “We’ve also addressed the the problems we had with shock absorbers [Peterhasnel had a terrifying shunt early on at Dakar ’22 when a wheel came off, suspension and all].

“Then the main thing was obviously the weight. We needed to go on a big diet!”

Audi car rolls down a sand dune on 2022 Dakar Rally

The Dakar ’22 car claimed four stage wins; it has now been substantially slimmed down

Audi

Quandt’s Q-Motorsport outfit, which is running the project for Audi, has plenty of Dakar experience, but the team boss alluded to his and the manufacturer’s competitive experiences working against each other when the first car was made.

“Basically, Audi’s background is more circuit racing, with bodywork closed for the road, but a lot of that doesn’t make sense in the desert,” he says.

“The new body is much more slim, which is also an improvement on the aerodynamic side. We now use less fuel and less energy, which I think is what is interesting [about the E2].”

Though it refuses to confirm this, it seems likely that Audi’s ultimate aim at Dakar is going all-electric – it hasn’t quite got there yet.

The electric hybrid still utilises the 2-litre, four-cylinder engine which powers it to so many DTM victories.

Operating in what Audi says is the optimum window of 2,500-4,000rpm, the ICU howls away at a constant pitch when the electric motors charging level is in a time of need.

Spare wheel of Audi RS Q e-tron

Stripped-back bodywork brings weight-saving and aerodynamic benefits

Purple suspension detail of Audi RS Q e-tron
Cockpit of Audi RS Q e-tron in 2022

Though it refuses to confirm this, it seems likely that Audi’s ultimate aim at Dakar is going all-electric – it hasn’t quite got there yet.

The electric hybrid still utilises the 2-litre, four-cylinder engine which powers it to so many DTM victories.

Operating in what Audi says is the optimum window of 2,500-4,000rpm, the ICU howls away at a constant pitch when the electric motors charging level is in a time of need.

Quandt said the focus is on making sure this PU arrangement is a winner – probably why Neuberg tech heads are pushing the advancements on other parts of the car.

“The Audi RS Q e-tron E2 does not adopt a single body part from its predecessor – it further reduces the energy requirements of the electrically powered car,” says chief designer Axel Löffler.

“We are now doing away with the underflow of the rear hood to the left and right of the B-pillars. In conjunction with modified lay-ups, i.e. optimised fabric layers of the composite materials, this solution reduces weight.”

The need to shed a few pounds has been one of the RS Q’s main issues – it’s taken a big effort to get the car down to the 2,100kg minimum its T1U category allows.

The end result is a machine which looks a significant from the beast which the German marque used to tackle the Dakar last year, but Audi believes says the car will only get better now in its fight against Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah – last year’s winner – and Prodrive’s Sébastien Loeb.

The first indication of where the E2 matches up will be at its first event – the Morocco Rally – in October, where Sainz says the team will “really push the car to the limit.”

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