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| For immediate publication |
| 2004.02.23 |
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Christophe Chapelain named as Technical Director of the Nissan Rally Raid Team
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Shortly after finishing the challenging 2004 Dakar Rally, Nissan is already shifting to high gear preparing for 2005 season, the third year of its works participation. As a first step to reinforce the team, Gilles Martineau, team manager of the Nissan Rally Raid Team has called up Christophe Chapelain to take up the position of Technical Director. A 40-year old engineer with an impressive career record, his task is to build a machine that can win the Dakar.
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The Nissan Rally Raid Team has recently appointed Christophe Chapelain as Technical Director. Having spent three seasons in the WRC with Prodrive, Christophe was in charge of the chassis development of the Subaru which allowed Peter Solberg to become the 2003 World Rally Champion. Before working for Prodrive, Christophe Chapelain had also known success during the seven-year period he spent with Peugeot Sport. Having worked successively on the development of the 306 in the French Rally Championship, the 406 in the German Supertouring Championship and the workshops that built the WRC cars, Christophe was able to gain valuable experience in leading teams.
Today, he has chosen to put his abilities and expertise within Nissan Rally Raid Team, with the ultimate objective of building a car able to win the Dakar. A significant challenge which has appealed to the engineer from Avignon, France : " Although it is true rallies and rally raids are significantly different, the objectives remain similar. And what is interesting about rally raid competitions, is the ability to take inspiration from the technological level of the WRC, in order to make the whole category evolve. Of course, this evolution will not be straight-forward, and our rivals are very competitive. Comparatively, they have one major asset, namely extensive experience of the category, which we must admit, we are lacking at this time. In the short term, we have a lot of work and many decisions to take as far as the options we face in order to build our next car. It is a fine challenge, on both the technical and on the human fronts."
In a few weeks time, Nissan will unveil the further enhanced, reinforced team structure and plans for the coming season.
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