Rally Raid
How a legend inspired Red Bull Off-Road Team USA's Dakar success
The 2020 Dakar Rally was filled with drama for Red Bull Off-Road Team USA as rally raid superstar Cyril Despres spearheaded a success story in the Saudi desert.
One of the most hotly-anticipated entrants ahead of the 2020 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia took the form of Red Bull Off-Road Team USA who entered the Side-by-Side (SxS) category with talented young American drivers Blade Hildebrand and Mitch Guthrie Jr.
The big news was that they were sensationally joined by five-time event winner Cyril Despres as a mentor, and he used all his experience to help the team take six stage wins against all the odds.
Cyril Despres is coaching Mitch Guthrie Jr and Blade Hildebrand this season
© Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool
Despres, who conquered the world’s toughest rally raid on two wheels and notched up a podium in 2017 in the Car Class, signed on with the fledgling Red Bull Off-Road Team USA just months before the start of the 2020 Dakar Rally. The French ace was tasked with mentoring the two young Americans and also had to teach his illustrious explorer friend, team-mate, co-driver and Dakar Rally debutant Mike Horn a few things.
When the training stopped and the racing began, Hildebrand, alongside co-driver François Cazalet and rookie Guthrie Jr. with co-driver Ola Floene, had to overcome huge adversity early on in the rally. Both crews were forced to retire from the overall standings, but true teamwork would eventually result in unexpected success.
Deep into the event, Despres went beyond his brief as team leader and after winning a stage early on gave Guthrie his engine so the young American could continue in the Dakar Experience Class, gaining valuable experience and three stage wins. Team-mate Hildebrand joined Guthrie Jr. and combined his talent and Despres’ training to take two stage wins, capped off by a brace of stunning one-two finishes on stages 9 and 10.
We caught up with the three Red Bull Off-Road Team USA drivers to get the insight into a Dakar of ups and downs. It's a true example of youth and experience, and above all, teamwork…
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How was your 2020 Dakar experience? You overcame many significant problems to win several stages
Mitchell Guthrie won his first Dakar stage in Saudi Arabia
© Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool
Cyril Despres: I was not really looking for a result in the Dakar; it was a new experience driving in the SxS Class with some young kids from the USA. I'm not a beginner, I know that when you have a new project in the Dakar you'll face many technical problems and honestly, our problems came really early. Overall though, I'm happy about the team effort and what the kids have done.
Mitch Guthrie Jr: On Stage 7 we blew a motor. We were able to get towed back to the bivouac and that took us out of the overall running. Unfortunately both spare motors had already been used, so Cyril gave us his.
For Cyril to give me his motor during Stage 8, which allowed me to continue in the rally, was huge. I’m forever grateful for that because I could have been sitting out, missing my first Dakar stages, but thankfully to him, he was able to say “give Mitch my motor!” and they were able to literally pull it out of his car and put it in mine. I was able to get some more finishes and stage wins, so that was really, really cool. He allowed me to keep going which was huge and as a mentor he taught me a lot.
Blade Hildebrand: Halfway through the first stage we experienced fuel issues and lost a great deal of time. Second stage, we were plagued with another mechanical issue, a far bigger one and lost the clutch. I pride myself in the ability to tackle most repair issues with the car, but this was insurmountable, the clutch was unfixable. Francois and I were done. It was extremely difficult to deal with the disappointment. We finally diverted our attention back to the task. We had to find the stamina to stand through this storm.
Mitch, you took three wins, what was that like?
Mitch Guthrie Jr: On Stage 4 we ended up winning, which was amazing. That was my very first win and to get a stage win during my very first rally was really cool. At that point in the rally we were looking really good – in the overall standings we were like sixth or seventh – so that was also really good for the team. At that time Blade and Cyril had been having some issues, so a stage win boosted morale.
From there we kept going and had some really good stages, but unfortunately we then blew the motor. After Cyril gave us his, we were able to continue and got into the groove and me and Blade both had back-to-back one-two finishes. The results we were having were pretty incredible and great for the team. Towards the end we knew we could win every single stage, overall it was really good and I was really happy.
How did you prepare for the 2020 Dakar Rally with such a mix of experience and backgrounds in the team?
Blade Hildebrand taking a minute to relax
© Chris Tedesco/Red Bull Content Pool
Blade Hildebrand: From testing in Morocco to training in Andorra and all these different things, Cyril has welcomed us and given us the benefit of his 20 years of experience. There are so many things he’s taught us along the way, like the marathon stage and helping us with things like car set-up and even the mental side of things. It’s really fun working with Cyril. We are able to joke around a lot, have a lot of fun, but when it's race time things get serious and it's good to have a balance between these things. He’s just an awesome guy and having him and Mike [Horn] around was just really cool.
Cyril Despres: The training part was easy for me – I'd previously trained with a guy called Joel, who's from Argentina and lives in Andorra. We were teaching ourselves how to get prepared for a race like the Dakar, following tips such as building the neck muscles and trying to find a good pressure of your feet on the throttle and the brake pedal. There were many small exercises and these worked really well.
It's also mental – during the race you don’t need only to drive straight and fast, you have to listen to your co-driver, you have to take care of your car, you have to adapt your speed and then you have to control your emotions – don’t go over the limit and face an accident.
This was easy; this was like training with several tasks in the gym. One task was to do well with Mike and teach him as quickly as possible how to navigate and the other was to teach Blade and Mitch new things every day in the morning, at midday at the refuelling stops or at night when we had dinner. With Mike it was easy, as he's a tough guy, he knows very well what his limitations are and where he can face problems. After the start we soon saw the potential of the team.
What was it like working so closely with multiple Dakar Rally winner like Cyril Despres?
Despres in the desert
© rallyemaroc.npo.fr
Blade Hildebrand: Having a mentor as legendary as Cyril is invaluable. Everyone needs a confidante to go to for advice, support and guidance. Cyril helps with identifying goals. His knowledge of how he navigated past career challenges is passed on to us. He's invested in and committed to the program. I do believe we have mutual trust, respect and communication. I'm not gonna lie... we're working on the language barrier!
Mitch Guthrie Jr: Me and Blade have got to know Cyril pretty well by now – he’s just an awesome guy that really wants to help us achieve good things in Dakar and that’s exactly what he did.
And finally, Cyril, what were your impressions on working with Blade and Mitch?
Cyril Despres: I joked one day and said that one of these guys looks like Carlos Sainz. A lot of motivation, a lot of speed, a lot of energy and also a bit aggressive. Maybe a bit too much, but you have to work on this... this is Blade.
On the other side you have a different kind of driver and that was Mitch. I said, he looks like a Stéphane Peterhansel – this is a really cool guy. He did not go too fast, he’s a really smooth driver but at the same time is a really fast driver. In October, when we were together, Blade impressed a lot of people, but Mitch impressed me especially because of the quality. He was consistent and had no problems in testing.
Mutual respect clearly runs throughout the team, despite the huge spread of age and experience and with such a strong finish to the Dakar for Red Bull Off-Road Team USA, we can't wait to see what the future holds.
