Full Throttle

Luc Alphand put his name in the history books on Monday by becoming the first person to win World Cup races in two contrasting sports. The Frenchman won many World Cup races during his Alpine Skiing career, culminating in the overall title, but on Monday, he tasted his first Rally Raid World Cup win.

The 1997 Alpine Skiing World Champion and three-time downhill world champion hung up his skies to take to the dunes with BMW, but after three barren years with the German manufacturer, the Frenchman switched to Mitsubishi for this year’s Dakar, finishing second behind team-mate Stephane Peterhansel.

Alphand was then selected to compete on the Rally of Tunisia, and despite it being only his second outing in the Pajero Evolution 3, he got the better of Volkswagen’s Bruno Saby and team-mate Hiroshi Masuoka to take his first victory.

“It is a great feeling to win,” said Alphand. “I feel a great release today. There has been a lot of pressure for two days. You know the win is possible, but until you cross the line anything can happen.

“It is a different feeling to winning in skiing,” he explained. “Those are powerful moments over two minutes. Here it is a team effort and I am sure it will take a few hours to sink in that we did a great job this week. I am pleased for everyone associated with the team.”

Compatriot Bruno Saby was satisfied with his second place despite having led the event in the early stages. The Volkswagen ace now leads the Rally Raid World Cup on 26 points with Alphand second on 15, and with further improvements coming to the Touareg, he could prove difficult to catch.

“I’m pleased about second place and increasing the World Cup lead,” he said. “Currently we can definitely get more out of the suspension than the engine, which we now use more effectively thanks to the twin-turbo chargers.”

Two mistakes in the final two stages left Japan’s Hiroshi Masuoka in third place overall, and despite a flat out attack on the final section, the Mitsubishi driver was unable to catch second places Saby.

“I drove hard today, but I could not get back three minutes,” said Masuoka. “It is not too bad. We have a podium place and Pascal and I are now on a better level. Now we must work hard together on the two Morocco tests, maybe another event in September and prepare for the Dakar again next year.”