Ronan Chabot has not won the Dakar. He has not even been on the podium of the toughest rally-raid in the world. He has hardly been seen in the ‘top 5’ in phases of the race, although he has made several ‘top 10’ throughout his career on the Dakar. But nevertheless, the French pilot is one of the veteran pilots of the bivouac, in addition to one of the most appreciated by his teammates and rivals. In fact, Chabot celebrates its twentieth participation in the event in the 44th edition of the Dakar Rally, a fact that he wanted to ‘highlight’ in his car. So much so that the Overdrive Toyota Hilux with which Ronan will compete sports a decoration that not only makes it clear that it is on its 20th anniversary, but that he reviews all the cars he has used in the Dakar.
Even if far is the seventh place he achieved in the 2013 edition of the Dakar, a test in which he was in the ‘top 3’ of two stages and also occupying podium positions in the general classification in which he finally finished seventh with the SMG buggy, Chabot has been the protagonist of the race in one way or another . In fact, the French rider was tenth in 2015, the same position he held in 2019. More recently, Ronan Chabot was also in the media spotlight for the hard accident he suffered in the ninth special stage of the Dakar 2020, a day in which the French driver destroyed the left front suspension of his Toyota after hitting a stone, suffering a spectacular overturn.
Now Chabot faces a new Dakar in hopes of being in the top ten in the final standings in Jeddah. It will not be an easy task given the enormous competition that the appearance of Audi supposes, the development of the new Toyota Hilux V6 of the official team of the Japanese firm and the T1 + of Prodrive. Ronan Chabot’s experience will be key in surviving a race in which the reliability of Overdrive’s Toyota Hilux can be key, even if the Frenchman does not compete with the latest version of the Japanese 4×4. As usual, Chabot will be accompanied by co-driver Gilles Pillot in what will be his 20th Dakar.
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