The world of rally raids is in mourning. René Metge, winner of three editions of the Paris-Dakar, died on Wednesday 3 January. The transalpine was 82 years old and was following the organization of the Africa Eco Race, the race that he had conceived and managed to bring the African continent back to the top of Cross-Country Rallies.
An eclectic driver, like many transalpine drivers, René had come to the fore in touring races and then became one of the protagonists of endurance races, also taking part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but it was with the fourteen editions of the Dakar that he found great notoriety. Recognized friend of Thierry Sabine, the creator of the African marathon, he had participated in the 1979 edition with the Range Rover shared with Christophe Neveu. An unfortunate debut as it ended with a withdrawal.
The following year he switched to trucks and finished seventh in his class in a Leyland Marathon. He repeated the experience with the road bison in 1994, completing the route up to Lago Rosa in sixth position with the vehicle shared together with Pascal Serre and Livio Diamante. In between there were the three overall victories in cars: the first in 1981 with the Range Rover shared with Bernard Giroux which was followed by the two victories with the official Porsche.
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Johnny Hallyday, Hubert Auriol and René Metge at the 2002 Dakar
In 1984 Metge won with the 911 driven by Dominique Lemoine, while in 1986 he repeated it with the 959, the all-wheel drive car that the Stuttgart company had developed specifically to win the Dakar.
After the tragic death of Thierry Sabine in the helicopter accident in 1986, Thierry's father had asked for René's collaboration to give continuity to the grueling African race: Metge was in the organization of the 1987 and 88 editions and in the first year he was also served as race director, gaining experience which then led him to launch other raids such as the Paris-Beijing and secondly the Africa Eco Race, born thanks to the cooperation with Hubert Auriol and Jean-Louis Schlesser, given that In the meantime, the Dakar had emigrated first to Larina America and then to Saudi Arabia.
As a co-pilot he had followed both Patrick Tambay and the singer Johnny Halliday to the Dakar. His last presence was in 2007 as Yvan Muller's navigator on a Buggy Dessaude. As his last wish, Metge asked to be buried after the end of the Africa Eco Race to give all his friends the opportunity to participate in his funeral.
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