Leading Audi’s charge in the 2022 Dakar Rally is the new RS Q e-tron, which was created on a blank sheet of paper to tackle special challenges.

Audi will soon face one of the greatest challenges in the world of motorsport – the Dakar Rally. It will do so with an innovative prototype powered by an alternative drive that employs an electric drivetrain, a high-voltage battery and a highly efficient energy converter. When the 2022 Dakar Rally finally arrives, Audi becomes the first carmaker to employ such a concept.

Interestingly, Audi is returning to rallying after several years of absence. In those years, though, the brand with four rings achieved various success in other motorsport categories. Building on those successes, Audi returning to a motorsport that it helped revolutionized with the Audi Quattro. With various advanced technologies on its disposal, Audi is hoping it could once more revolutionize the sport.

Leading Audi’s charge in the 2022 Dakar Rally is the new RS Q e-tron, which the carmaker created on a blank sheet of paper to tackle special challenges. Everything is well-thought and well-planned, and Audi is currently conducting various tests to ensure the RS Q e-tron can endure thousands of miles of torture.

Of course, the Audi RS Q e-tron plans to electrify the 2022 Dakar Rally with human elements. Center to the ensuring that human pilots can compete in the harsh Dakar Rally to their fullest capabilities is the most sacred place inside – the cockpit.

Just like an airplane cockpit, the front cabin of the RS Q e-tron features a panel laden with various screens, displays and buttons. The operating concept of the RS Q e-tron allows various functions between drivers and co-drivers to be re-distributed accordingly. The cockpit of the vehicle is designed to allow Mattias Ekström, Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz to focus on their main tasks: steering, accelerating and braking,

The steering features eight control buttons. On top are for activating or controlling the horn, windshield wipers, data entries, warnings, indicator and intercom. Below are buttons for activating the speed limiter and toggling driving direction. Directly behind the steering wheel is a display for tire pressures, direction of travel, current gear, current speed and important warnings.

Two small displays are mounted above and toward the windshield: one for compass direction, another for the current speed.

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Located centrally between the driver and the co-driver is a center console display for various information such as tire pressure, selected brake balance, brake-by-wire system as well as several other functions. When the function or system is working properly, the displayed information is highlighted in green; otherwise (including failures and errors), the information is displayed in red. This color coding allows the driver and the co-driver to immediately determine which system is not function as intended.

Just below the center console display is a switch panel that is solely for the co-driver to tinker, although the driver has a say on how things should be tinkered on. The switch panel has 24 freely assignable but predefined buttons, each of which is touch-sensitive with a pressure point. Any button on the switch panel can be programmed to reflect preselected maximum speeds, or the air conditioning actuation.

Interestingly, the switch panel can be programmed into different pages, thereby allowing all 24 buttons to be assigned multiple times. More frequently used functions can be programmed on the front pages, while the lesser used one called up on the rear pages. The switch panel essentially allows the co-driver to operate the Dakar-bound RS Q e-tron hybrid SUV.

Located just on the right section of the dash are two tablets. The co-driver is assigned to play with these gadgets, as both are essential in determining where the Audi RS Q e-tron would need to go during the grueling Dakar Rally.

In the past, teams would receive the route of the upcoming stage the evening before, in the form of paper roadbooks. These roadbooks are essentially rolls of paper providing important information and instructions such as compass directions, distances, pictograms, special aspects and hazard warnings. But the rules have change. Organizers now issue the route information 15 minutes before the actual start of the stage. Organizers have now switched to digital roadbook format, which are sent and can be accessed through the two tablets in front of the co-driver.

This does not mean that the organizers don’t provide paper roadbooks; they still do. The co-driver can only open sealed paper roadbooks if the left tablet – which contains the way through the terrain -- malfunctions. Should the co-driver open the paper roadbooks even if the tablet is still working, the team will be penalized.

Containing the GPS navigation, the right tablet validates the digital waypoints the car must drive to. Once the car reaches the radius of a waypoint, the driver will see arrows in the right-hand repeater (below the windshield) indicating where the waypoint is.

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Audi also loaded the RS Q e-tron with the so-called Iritrack system. Found in the center console, this system is employed for first aid in emergencies. In case of an emergency, the system allows the co-driver to inform the organizer of details such as injuries, medical assistance or other emergencies involving other participants.

The Iritrack system also allows the organizers to record the vehicle speed, current position, as well as detect possible accidents during the race.

Peterhansel's MINI has its second Dakar win in a row while Honda gets its first 1-2 finish in 34 years.

Julybien Atadero writes from the island of Cebu covering various automotive topics including new sports cars, classic muscles, pickup trucks and SUVs. While I like peace and quiet, I love playing with my kid. When I have nothing else to do, I watch documentaries and animations.