Though the race is six months in the future, preparations for the 2021 Dakar rally are well under way. Debuting next year will be the Prodrive-built Dakar Rally T1, which has been under development since mid-2019 and is now in the final stages of construction prior to testing.
The company recently revealed technical details of the car, and announced that it would be campaigned by the Bahrain Raid Extreme team, owned by the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The vehicle will be four-wheel drive and powered by a 3.5-liter, turbocharged V6 petrol engine. The manufacturer of the base engine has not yet been revealed, but it will be developed by Prodrive for competition use. Drive will be put down through a 6-speed, sequential transmission, with front, rear and center mechanical diffs.
The chassis will be of tubular steel construction, clad in composite bodywork, using a combination of carbon fiber and natural fiber based materials. All up weight will be 1,850kg, with the vehicle capable of carrying 500 liters of fuel.
The Bahraini team plans to field a pair of T1s, which will be supported by 48 personnel and a total of three Geidobler converted MAN trucks on the off-road stages.
