Annett Fischer shares her thoughts on racing 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship heading into Round 3 Rally du Maroc this weekend starting October 1-6. Having completed previous 2 Rounds racing The Dakar Rally in January followed by Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Annett and co-driver Annie Seel stand P6 in T3 General category.
For sure, the female duo bring plenty of experience racing the world’s pinnacle of Rally Championships, with Annett completing Dakar Rally 2019 through to 2021 as co-driver prior to taking the wheel in 2022 Dakar paired with Annie. And, Annie a legend within Dakar Rally competitors, shares her expertise on racing Bikes along with co-driver navigation skills, with the pair finishing 2022 Dakar Rally in P15 in Lightweight Prototype General category.
Delve a bit deeper on understanding what makes the perfect partnership between driver and co-driver work – when gaps of months exist between getting into the race car within World Rally-Raid Championship calendar – and a bigger story emerges. Facts state that it takes more than a couple of exchanges of niceties to exact smooth transition between one Rally to the next, as both driver, co-driver and Team know, sorting through myriad of obstacles encountered during racing can either make or break goal to achieve best possible performance on track.
Behind the scenes communications along with working side-by-side between Annett and Annie, Team crew, and mechanics has been crucial to breakdown issues that are cause for concern, particularly as the female pair were racing new Yamaha XYZ1000R for 2022 Dakar. In retrospect, Annett feels that all these moments which challenged herself, Annie and the Team merely served to strengthen their resolve on improving race performance next time out.
As Annett and Annie embark on racing Round 3 of World Rally Raid Championship, information shared highlights how much thought, insight, and analysis goes into planning race strategies. Yes, of course Annett and Annie aim to compete and better previous position in category, but Annett’s innate ability to use common sense through-out racing steers her Team through the possible unforeseen challenges that lie ahead on and off the track.
Annett shares her thoughts on completing 2022 Dakar Rally and racing World Rally-Raid Championship Rounds:
‘After the Dakar, I have to say, we were not really happy as we didn’t finish in the position that we wanted. Yes, we won the Women’s category, but in the overall T3 we wanted a better result. In retrospect, having spoken with our engineer a couple of days ago, we looked back at all the problems we had, and we said together, it was a wonder we finished where we did.
We were happy that the last 2 days, when we had no problems at all, we managed to improve our position by 2 more places. After Dakar, we raced Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and we finished in a great position – 4th, which was perfect. When you see the starter fields with really fast men and women, the result has pushed our motivation up further to improve our position in Morocco.
My goal for Rally du Maroc is to go as fast as possible and as far forward as we can, I hope we can reach P5 maybe, that would be perfect. The starting list is still very fast, so I will keep myself grounded. Rally Andalucia is one week afterwards, so it is busy and great to be back in the race calendar.
One of the most significant things of competing in World Rally Championships is racing. In the past, I have always had a long gap between racing, which makes it feel like the first time when you get in the car. Now, racing the whole season, it is quite different for myself and Annie. More practice time for navigation, and more time working together in the car.
Competing as driver and co-driver is very different in terms of relaying information on navigation during the race. On a motorbike, you can see the big picture, you know to go left or right, or if there is a tree. In a race car, you see the big picture but need to translate it into another language, to tell it to the driver. Then, the driver needs to have the picture in her head and transfer data to the race car.
The task takes a lot longer, is more difficult, and possibilities for mistakes can occur within transfer of information. I think Annie has a lot more knowledge now, and for myself as ex-co-driver, I know what it is like which is very important for our working relationship. I believe, you always need to work as a Team through all the difficulties that arise and just find a way out as soon and quick as possible. The main point in the relationship is trust – I trust Annie and she trusts me. I think that is key to a successful partnership’.
Rally du Maroc October 1-6. Header photo: Annett Fischer.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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