How Audi Built A Desert Racing RS Q e-tron And Won The Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally originated in 1978 as the vision of a French motorsport icon, Thierry Sabine, who came up with the idea of an endurance race across the brutal Sahara Desert. In just over four decades, Dakar has evolved into a global showcase of automotive engineering might, the ultimate proving ground for testing cutting-edge technology in real-time.

After traversing the African continent for 30 years, the Dakar Rally has been held exclusively in Saudi Arabia since 2020. Many manufacturers have embraced the change, one of which is Audi, which uses the terrain as a testing lab for radical new vehicles such as the Audi RS Q e-tron.

The RS Q e-tron marks a significant milestone in Audi’s history, as it represents the company’s strategic shift towards electric vehicles following their departure from the Formula E and DTM stages. At first glance, the RS Q e-tron looks like something you’d see exiting an alien spaceship exploring a post-apocalyptic society, but instead, it’s designed to conquer the harsh terrain of the Arabian Desert. During the day, temperatures can soar up to 130°F, while at night, it can plummet to below freezing. Despite these unforgiving conditions, the RS Q e-tron is engineered to perform flawlessly.

We had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Leonard Pascali, Technical Director of the Dakar Project at Audi Motorsport, who has been leading the development of the RS Q e-tron prototype since joining the company in 2022. He stated that reliability represented the make-or-break priority, even over performance gains when designing the car. As Dr. Pascali said, “Reliability is the priority compared to performance for us. Because you can be one second faster for one kilometer, but if you have a reliability problem, the second will be nothing.”

He described an almost fanatical 5,400-mile testing regime that involved stressing components to failure to vet the durability of certain parts. Dr. Pascali explained that in tests they purposefully “wanted to check the reliability…using parts that, in some cases, were not completely new but used.” According to Dr. Pascali, each new test brought at least “one problem that we never had before.”

“Sometimes, to ensure our software functioned correctly in various scenarios, we had to intentionally induce mechanical failures and observe how the software responded.”

He went on to draw parallels between the Apollo 13 Mission and the racing program, pointing out that the co-driver assumes a role similar to that of a flight engineer and navigator. “We have a quick reference book that contains a list of potential issues and their corresponding solutions, much like the Apollo 13 mission,” Dr. Pascali noted.

Dakar Rally Facts

• The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid organized by the Amaury Sport Organisation that has taken place in South America, The Middle East, and Africa.
• The rally features various categories of vehicles, including cars, trucks, motorcycles, and quad bikes, and competitors must navigate through challenging terrain, including deserts, mountains, and wetlands.
• Fatalities have occurred almost every year during the race, though safety standards and medical facilities have improved. Over 60 fatalities have occurred in the history of the race.
• French native Stéphane Peterhansel holds the record for most Dakar Rally wins, with 14 overall victories. Other notable multiple winners include Cyril Despres and Nasser Al-Attiyah.

One of the significant challenges the team faced was managing the weight of the RS Q e-tron. The batteries themselves weigh around 816 pounds or 17% of the total weight of the vehicle. Dr. Pascali noted that in the first year, the car was over the target weight, weighing more than 4,850 pounds. This excessive weight affects the car’s handling and energy efficiency, making weight reduction a top priority. Through continued development and refinement, the team was able to get the weight closer to the 4,630-pound target, but still had to shed another 45 to 55 pounds to meet their target.

The process of refining and lightening components has been an ongoing effort, with enhancements made to also increase the car’s ability to absorb energy from front crashes after a serious accident in a previous Dakar Rally where veteran driver, Carlos Sainz, was involved in the crash. As Sainz’s car jumped a sand dune, the vehicle nosedived into the sand upon landing, crashing hood first before settling onto its roof.

“In the last year, our focus was working more on the safety aspect of the vehicle. In the last Dakar, we had a crash with Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz.”

Despite the RS Q e-tron already proving capable of surviving a crash, the team reinforced driver protection, with Dr. Pascali stating they “work a lot on the passive safety of the car.” Dr. Pascali emphasized that extensive testing has allowed them to make major improvements to the RS Q’s performance, resulting in noticeable “steps forward in the setup of the car” and meeting weight targets.

The weight of a rally car has a significant impact on its performance, particularly when navigating challenging terrain like the Dakar Rally. The more a rally car weighs, the more stress it puts on components that already endure extreme punishment. The harsh Dakar terrain of soft dunes, jagged rocks, and high-speed sections magnifies issues when a car carries excess weight. Meeting the target distribution allows the suspension to optimally push the tires to the ground across this challenging landscape.

With the ideal weight, the car can better withstand both the pounding of relentless off-road miles and the demands for precise handling through smooth sections and turns. Getting the weight distribution right has been a continual process to maximize durability and performance over 15 grueling days.

Audi’s Dakar Rally Challenge

The Dakar Rally presented a series of unique engineering challenges for Audi’s team. As Dr. Pascali, the lead engineer, explained that they had to seamlessly integrate the electric powertrain, battery, cooling system, and software into one high-performance package able to withstand the grueling race.

The racecourse traverses over 4,300 miles of rigorous off-road terrain, imposing extreme demands on drivers and machines over 15 days. As Dr. Pascali noted, teams only get details on each stage 15 minutes before the start, forcing adaptations to unpredictable surfaces, from soft sand dunes one day to rocky mountain passages the next. The demands did not stop there. Ensuring battery efficiency is also critical given Dakar’s extreme distances. As Dr. Pascali noted, “We try to keep the battery at 80% [charge] for maximum efficiency.” With reliability and safety needs met, driver comfort ranked next.

“It’s important to have a comfortable vehicle during this rally, because this helps to reduce the tiredness of the driver and the crew. So a driver and crew can remain focused on all parts of the rally stages spanning thousands of kilometers.”

Drawing from their passenger vehicles, Audi utilized AC compressors from the e-tron GT to enhance comfort. As Dr. Pascali stated, “We try to learn as much as possible and bring this knowledge into future vehicles.”

Audi’s Dakar Win Needed Innovation and Resilience

Dr. Pascali’s unwavering commitment to innovation stems from his conviction that a solution-focused team is the cornerstone of success. As he so aptly puts it, “Having a team that is fully focused on finding the solution, and then once you’ve found the solution, you can transform this into a standard process.” This mindset is particularly valuable in the high-stakes world of races like the Dakar, which Dr. Pascali refers to as a “technology demonstrator.”

The challenges that come with competing in such a demanding environment, according to Dr. Pascali, yield standardized procedures that are not only robust but also strikingly similar to those required in production cars. He notes, “The freedom and lot of challenge” that come with racing in the Dakar “generate standardized procedures that are resilient and effective.”

“Once we’d solved a problem, we were actually glad to have had those issues come up, because it allowed us to figure out how to fix them. That way, if we encounter the same problem again in the future, we’ll be ready and won’t have to worry about it during the race.”

It’s no surprise that Audi emerged victorious in the Dakar Rally with a mindset like this. It was Audi’s first win in Dakar, and the team covered around 15,000 desert miles in total. With a commitment to innovation and a willingness to learn from setbacks, it’s clear that Audi is well-equipped to tackle any challenge that comes their way.