The 2022 edition of the Dakar Rally could not avoid the tragic fate of the competition: Quentin Lavalée, a 20-year-old mechanic who attended a car during the race, died this Friday and joined the long history of dead protagonists when the vehicle he was driving collided with a truck not belonging to the caravan in a link section. As a result of the impact, Lavalée died on the spot, while his colleague Maxime Frére was injured.
Lavalée, a member of the PH Spot team, attended the Classic category Peugeot 205 T16 Grand Raid during the race, driven by his compatriot Rudy Jacquot, accompanied by William Alcaraz. In the last stage and on a link route, the vehicle he was driving collided with a non-race truck, which produced the tragic outcome, according to what the competition organization reported.
“This morning at 11:30 am, at km 234 of the assistance link route, there has been an accident between an assistance vehicle and a local truck, as reported by the Local Police”, begins the official part of the race . “Unfortunately, the driver of the vehicle, Quentin Lavalée, a French national and member of the PH Spot team, has died as a result of the accident. He was 20 years old. The passenger who was traveling with him, Maxime Frère, a Belgian national, was injured and He has been transferred conscious to the National Guards Hospital in Jeddah where he is undergoing a complete check-up. He has an abdominal and chest contusion, “ASO completed.
With the death of Lavalée, the list of participants who died during the competition rises to 33, since the French motorcyclist Patrick Dodin died in the 1979 edition. They are joined by 46 indirect victims, which includes spectators, members of the organization and journalists who followed the competition or locals who were involved in accidents with race participants.
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