{"id":6592,"date":"2023-01-16T20:50:15","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T20:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=6592"},"modified":"2023-01-16T20:54:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T20:54:35","slug":"dakar-classic-hail-to-the-little-ones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=6592","title":{"rendered":"Dakar Classic: hail to the little ones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over in Saudi Arabia, Dakar Classic followed in the footsteps of the big Dakar<\/a>. And among the participants, we focus on the brave Fiat Pandas and Citro\u00ebn Visas\u2026 who made it to the finish we\u2019ll have you know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year was the first time a Fiat Panda made it to the finish of a Dakar rally\u2026 ever. Quite the accomplishment, even if it was in 106th<\/sup> place in the Dakar Classic<\/a> standings. A finish is a finish. And for participants Juan Morera and Lidia Ruba it must have been quite a good training, since the Spaniards won this year\u2019s Dakar Classic. No, not in a Panda, in a Toyota HDJ 80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo ASO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fiat Panda<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, once it was clear the small Fiat Panda 4×4 was a worthy participant, more tiny cars showed up for this year\u2019s Dakar Classic. The Swiss-based Team Desert Endurance Motorsport prepared two first-generation 4×4 Fiat Pandas for the Italian crews of Francesco and Alessandro Guanti and Marco Ernesto Leva and Alexia Giugnia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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#717 ABRIAL Francois (fra), BELTRAMI Cyril (fra), Abrial, Citroen, Dakar Classic, action, #718 ABRIAL Mathieu (fra), VIGUIER Thomas (fra), Annecy Moteur, Citroen, Dakar Classic, action during the Stage 13 of the Dakar Classic 2023 between Shaybah and Al-Hofuf. Photo ASO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Citro\u00ebn Visa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over at Annecy Moteur in France, another bold project got going last year. The team built up two replica Citro\u00ebn Visas, copies of the Visas with which Citro\u00ebn took part in the Paris-Dakar rally in 1984. One of these was a Group B Citro\u00ebn Visa and can be considered a first taste for Citro\u00ebn, who would go on the be victorious with the ZX prototypes in the nineties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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#763 GUASTI Francesco (ita), GUASTI Alessandro (ita), Tecnosport – Desert Endurance Motorsport, Fiat, Dakar Classic, action, #764 LEVA MARCO Ernesto (ita), GIUGNI Alexia (ita), Tecnosport – Desert Endurance Motorsport, Fiat, Dakar Classic, during Stage 13. Photo ASO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lightweights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The other two Citro\u00ebn Visas were more regular Chrono version. Both the Group B and the Chrono formed the basis for these replicas, down to their original \u2018Neff\u2019 decoration. First-timers Mathieu Abrial and Thomas Viguier started strong in their Group B Citro\u00ebn Visa, at one point even finishing a stage in twelfth place. Ultimately, they would end up the best finishers of the small cars, finishing 46th<\/sup> overall. The other Citro\u00ebn Visa, slightly heavier, was driven by Mathieu\u2019s father Fran\u00e7ois Abrial, co-driven by Cyril Beltrami. Fran\u00e7ois Abrial: \u201cThe main advantage of the Visas was their lightness. We could start with just 90 litres of fuel on board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo ASO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Abrial and Beltrami even finished one stage in sixth place, but ultimately had to settle for 52nd<\/sup> overall. The Pandas came in 62nd<\/sup> and 64th<\/sup> place, on 80 crews at the finish. All heroes, we tell you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over in Saudi Arabia, Dakar Classic followed in the footsteps of the big Dakar. And among the participants, we focus on the brave Fiat Pandas and Citro\u00ebn Visas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,104],"tags":[310,947,305,948,130,949,950],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-6592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historic-rallies","category-news-pictures-videos","tag-aso","tag-citroen-visa","tag-classic-dakar","tag-fiat-panda-4x4","tag-historic-rallies","tag-juan-morera","tag-lidia-ruba","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/20230102DAK2026-A.S.O.-Fotop.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6592"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6641,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6592\/revisions\/6641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6592"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fthb-sponsors&post=6592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}