Etienne Smulevici

See Etienne SMULEVICI on Wikipedia

In January 2019, he participated in his 40th Dakar, which is a record. He has finished the event 27 times, which is another record. In 1986, he was the first to run the event solo and unsupported. Nevertheless, he managed to finish the race. He also ran solo in the Paris-Moscow-Beijing in 1992, finishing in Beijing after 16,500 km and 30 days of racing, where he received the courage award. On January 2, 2008, the newspaper L'Équipe dedicated a last-page article to him, titled: "It's Mr. Dakar." He has been nicknamed "the indestructible Mr. Dakar." Étienne Smulevici has also brought personalities like Raymond Kopa, Gérard Lenorman, and Michel Hidalgo to the Dakar. He has participated and still participates in other competitions: in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Australia, Iceland, as well as the 24 Hours 4x4 of Paris, which he won in 2005, and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. He has been on the podium of the Pharaohs Rally three times. In December 2010, he co-signed with his friend Patrick Burgel a book titled At seven, he wanted to cross the desert... Étienne Smulevici, "the indestructible Mr. Dakar." The book is prefaced by Patrick Segal and in 2014, "the indestructible Mr. Dakar, the sequel" written by his wife Claude-Agnès. After so many journeys at the heart of the entire continent, he decided to put his experience to the service of others as a coach on Rally Raids or as a guide during discovery trips around 4x4s in all corners of the world. As of May 20, 2019, he has covered 519,300 km of racing and has raced on all continents.