Hubert Auriol (1952 - 2021)

When it comes to rallying, racing and organizing, Frenchman Hubert Auriol is a real legend. He was first to win the Dakar Rally in both the bike and car division, and won three times in total. He joined the organisation and worked nine years as the series’ director. He also initiated the Africa Eco Race and is currently working on the China Grand Rally.

80 Day Race reminds Hubert of the early years of the Dakar Rally. “At that time we didn’t know much about cross-country racing, as we were the first to do it. Everybody said it was crazy, because nobody knew what it was and it really became a huge event. I think that’s the same with the 80 Day Race; it’s a new adventure, it’s a new way of thinking, but it carries the same spirit. It’s completely the right moment to initiate something new: going around the world with no common way of using an engine. I directly was intrigued by its concept and knew I must support 80 Day Race.”

Hubert thinks 80DR can be of great value for the car industry. “The challenge of this race is to push engineering to find a solution to go around the world with something new. Today, if you take a car or plane it’s easy, but how can you do it with a different way of thinking? If it works around the world you can imagine that 10 years later it will be normal. For the car industry I think it’s a big challenge, because we have to prove that it’s possible.”

Who knows we’ll see him participating in the race: “I don’t know yet what I’m going to do, but why not creating a team and trying to succeed?”.

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