Dakar: Podium for Rebellion boss Pesci
THIRD BEST ROOKIES Alexandre Pesci is the owner of Rebellion Racing. As a driver in the Dakar Rally, the Lausanne native with a Vaud dentist as his co-driver has now proven his own endurance qualities. 52-year-old Alexandre Pesci from Lausanne makes his money in the industry. His great passion is motor racing. One of his companies, the watch manufacturer Rebellion, gives the driver, who competes in the [...]
52-year-old Alexandre Pesci from Lausanne makes his money in the industry. His great passion is motor racing. One of his companies, the watch manufacturer Rebellion, lends its name to the British racing team involved in the World Endurance Championship. Because of its Swiss owner and main sponsor, Rebellion Racing runs under the Swiss flag.
Dream fulfilled
Taking part in the Dakar Rally has always been Pesci's dream. He had a desert-ready buggy built by RD Limited, a company owned by French professional racing driver Romain Dumas, who lives in Arzier above Lake Geneva. The Rebellion DXX is powered by a 5-liter naturally aspirated Ford Coyote V8 engine developed by Pipo Moteurs in France.
Coaching by two Dakar winners
Alexandre Pesci himself underwent intensive physical preparation. The Roman-born driver took driving lessons on sandy and stony surfaces from none other than last year's winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, who finished the race in Saudi Arabia, which ended on January 17, in second place. Meanwhile, Pesci's co-driver Dr. Stephan Kühni, a dentist from Renens, received valuable tips from Nasser's navigator Mathieu Beaumel.
The two Swiss amateur racers put what they had learned into practice brilliantly. They did not take any unnecessary risks on the approximately 7500-kilometer route with twelve special stages and obviously dosed their speed just right. Having started the new adventure with a 46th place in SS1, they were then always classified between 44th and 58th place. In the final stage of the day, they even moved up to 39th place.
Rewarded regularity
Thanks to their regularity, they were rewarded with 43rd place in the overall classification and third place in the rookie category amidst Chinese teams. Although works driver Fernando Alonso was also a de facto Dakar rookie, he was not included in this classification reserved for amateurs.
However, the gaps between the individual positions amounted to several hours. Pesci/Kühni lost just over twelve hours to the class winners and 22 hours to the overall winners Sainz/Cruz in the John Cooper Works Mini Buggy with diesel engine.
However, they have exceeded their target.
Alexandre Pesci: "We wanted to finish, and we did that. The whole team has done a great job over the past few months to give us the best possible conditions. Mathieu and Nasser taught us a lot about the Dakar Rally so that we could take things easy. Our thanks go to them all."
