“When you look at sport and you look at those famous events, whether it’s the Superbowl in America, the World Cup Final in football, there are some that stand out above all others. In motorsport, I’d say the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500, the Le Mans 24-hour race, but I’d also say Dakar.”
It is a challenge, he says, that spikes the interest of many great drivers, including Fernando Alonso, who will return to Formula 1 with Renault in 2021.
“It is quite interesting, you look at drivers like Alonso, potentially one of the greatest drivers of his era who has won at Monaco, at Le Mans and he’s tried to win Indianapolis, and he still wants to win Dakar. So that rather speaks for itself.”
This could be Richards’ final project in motorsport, with a career spanning over 50 years and he admits it’s one of the biggest challenges in motorsport that has alluded him to date.
“There is one challenge we [Prodrive] have never attempted. A challenge that everyone says is one of the most difficult ones – and that’s Dakar. And that’s still to come.”
Source: Race Tech Magazine