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Volkswagen Cross Country Rallying - The successful odd couple: Bruno Saby and Michel Périn


March 2005
 Filed under: VOLKSWAGEN CORPORATE Car News | VOLKSWAGEN CORPORATE Headlines
Eleven days leading the field, nine stage victories and the first overall victory at the Rally Por las Pampas in mid March - Volkswagen works driver Bruno Saby and his co-driver Michel Périn have notched up a string of noteworthy successes since June 2004 for Volkswagen and have scored their first victory together after numerous successes as direct rivals in past. In addition, the two seasoned campaigners, who start the FIA Cross Country World Cup in Tunisia as championship leaders in April, share many sporting and personal interests.
Although Bruno Saby and Michel Périn competed in only their fifth rally together at the World Cup opener in South America, with their victory a hurdle has been cleared. Volkswagen gave me the chance to continue my career. We have now achieved our goal of leading the young team to victory only 14 months after the debut of the Race-Touareg”, says Saby happily. “In Morocco in 2004 we took two stage wins, afterwards at the Rally d’Orient we held the overall lead for four stages until two days before the finish. We were also leading after the sixth stage of the 2005 Dakar Rally and even won a stage at the end, but we suffered many setbacks and we always came up a little short. That’s why the spoils of victory are even sweeter now.”

Congratulatory telegram from French Minister of Sport

Among the Volkswagen works drivers’ well-wishers was the President of the French Automobile Sport Association FFSA Jacques Régis, and also Jean-François Lamour. The French Minister of Sport, a former Olympic gold medallist and World Champion in fencing, is extremely popular in France. “I was particularly pleased to receive his telegram, as he treats the most diverse array of sports equally and can judge success in sport thanks to his own experience”, stresses Saby.

Among the common themes uniting the biographies of Saby and Périn, is the fact that both swapped from classic rallying to cross country rallying in 1992 – with outstanding success: Saby won the Dakar Rally only twelve months after his debut in the new discipline, Périn scooped victory at the Tunisian Rally and the Paris-Peking Rally during his debut season as co-driver for Pierre Lartigue. “Paris-Peking was one of the toughest experiences in my career”, remembers the co-driver. “We spent 27 days in the cockpit, almost an entire month, to drive from Europe to Asia and finally the Chinese capital.” One of his most dogged opponents, who fought against him for victory during the 16,000 kilometre long rally, was Bruno Saby. “The trio, Citroën – Lartigue – Périn, were almost unbeatable then” judges the Frenchman. Twenty wins in 34 events – Périn achieved an almost unbelievable victory rate of 58 percent in the six years between 1992 and 1997, before later accepting the roll of team manager for his longstanding employer in the World Rally Championship.

Fitness, hard work and family support – the ingredients for success

“His success is based on the fact that he works extremely hard and methodically, is very well organised and also, when necessary, spends the whole night working through a road book”, Saby praises his co-driver, who also keeps fit with an intensive training programme. “I’ve lost 13 kilos since my time as Team Manager”, confesses Périn, who lives in Epernay in the countryside south of Reims. He swims two kilometres three-times a week, four-hour mountain bike tours, Nordic skiing in winter – between ten and twelve hours of sport per week is the rule for the family man, who receives immense support from his family. His partner Marie-Christine Lallement was once a rally co-driver and directed Christine Driano to the Ladies World Championship title in 1993. No surprise that daughter Camille competes in gymnastic competitions at the tender age of eight. “We were able to celebrate our daughter’s first team prize at the same time as our victory in South America”, says the proud father.

Bruno Saby, who lives with his wife Renée and two sons Damien and Pierre in Grenoble, also draws strength from his family’s support. “My family has been party to my successes and the tough times and always supported me”, says Saby. “My father sat as co-driver in the passenger seat when I competed in my first rally in 1967. I’d only had my driving licence for two weeks, but he knew that I could deal with the responsibility and he has supported me ever since. This is the reason why I’m also still successful in motorsport after almost 40 years: Even today I think about our first start together, I still have the same level of enthusiasm at the start of a rally as I did then.” The location of Grenoble, where Monte Carlo Rally stages were held regularly, cultivated Saby’s enthusiasm for motorsport at an early age and is today a picturesque landscape for lengthy cycle tours or for playing golf.

United by the common love of sport and literature

Périn defines the ability of his chauffeur. “Bruno really respects my work and is always relaxed in the cockpit. Another plus is his driving style. Bruno carries a lot of speed through the corners but is never brutal to the car, which, because of the long distances involved in cross-country rallying, definitely pays off.” Ability and reason from a combined total of more than 60 years motorsport experience marks the duo as one of the most experienced driver pairings in cross country rallying. Another common interest unites the two Frenchmen – their love of literature. While Michel Périn adores novels about the France of centuries gone by, Saby busies himself with “The Red and the Black” by Stendhal, a novel from the Restoration Era, and also with the “The Little Prince” by Saint-Exupéry. When Volkswagen Motorsport Director Kris Nissen discovered that the book “Little Prince” was permanently stowed in his works driver’s luggage during the Dakar Rally, the circle of readers increased further: Saby presented his Sport Boss with a German version of the classic.

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