ANDREA MAYER
- Former KTM and BMW factory enduro rider
- 5th overall Dakar Rally 2004
"This was an excellent learning year for me. I was running as high as fifth overall in the UAE Desert Challenge and have worked with the team throughout the 2004 season. The L200 Pick-Up is a competiitive car and I hope to achieve a good result on the Dakar, but I have a crucial support role to play for the team and that is the most important factor."
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Career Highlights: |
| 1994-2002 |
Racing in motorbike category |
| 1994 |
1st in Ladies' Cup, Atlas Rally |
| 1995 |
1st overall, Dakar Rally (motorbikes) |
| 1996 |
1st in Ladies' Cup, Atlas Rally; Dakar Rally and Rally of Tunisia |
| 1997 |
1st in Ladies' Cup, Rally of Tunisia and UAE Desert Challenge |
| 1998 |
1st in Ladies' Cup, UAE Desert Challenge |
| 1999 |
1st in Ladies' Cup, Dakar Rally, (32nd overall); Rally of Tunisia (21st overall) and Rally of Egypt (7th overall) |
| 2000 |
Factory driver for BMW Motorcycle |
| 2001 |
1st in Ladies' Cup, Dakar Rally, (30th overall); Rally of Tunisia (19th overall) and UAE Desert Challenge (6th overall) |
| 2002 |
1st in Ladies' Cup, 23rd overall, Dakar Rally on a KTM motorcycle |
| 2002 |
1st overall, Rally of Tunisia; 1st overall
1st overall,UAE Desert Challenge in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Evolution |
| 2003 |
21st overall, 4th T2 diesel, Dakar Rally; 5th overall, Rally of Tunisia; 16th overall, Rally of Morocco all in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Di-D; 2nd overall, Baja Germany in a Mitsubishi Pajero*
5th overall, UAE Desert Challenge in a Mitsubishi Pajero* Di-D |
| 2004 |
5th overall, Dakar Rally in a Mitsubishi Pajero*
10th overall, Rally of Morocco in a Mitsubishi L200 Pick-Up |
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Andrea Mayer was born in Kaufbeuren in 1968 and began a racing career on motorcycles in 1989 at the age of 21. Over the next few years she took part in numerous motorcycle events, before winning the Ladies Cup at the Moroccan Atlas Rally in 1994, a feat she repeated in 1995 and 1996.
Through the mid-1990s she became one of the leading motorcycle riders in world enduro racing and graduated to the full BMW factory team in 2000. At the start of the 2003 season she made the switch to rallying on four-wheels and took part in the Dakar Rally at the wheel of a Ralliart customer Pajero/Montero.
Over the course of the 2003 season she finished fifth overall in Tunisia, runner-up in the Baja Germany and fifth in the UAE Desert Challenge, before joining the full MMSP factory team to take fifth place in the 2004 Dakar Rally.
During the 2004 season she rallied for the MMSP team in Morocco and Dubai and carried out test and development work with a Ralliart customer Pajero/Montero in the Middle East in October. She will run as a support driver to the Mitsubishi team in the 2005 Dakar Rally at the wheel of a Mitsubishi L200 Pick-Up.
JEAN-MICHEL POLATO
- Dakar Rally 5th overall co-driver 2001
- Dakar Rally 10th overall co-driver 2003
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Career Highlights: |
| 1991/1994 |
Truck Mechanic Assistance |
| 1993/1994 |
Kart Champion |
| 1994/1997 |
Co-driver of Bruno Gilles, André Jorigne, and Joël Pignon in Tunisia and Morocco rallies |
| 2000 |
Co-driver Mitsubishi Truck on Dakar Rally
Co-driver of Pierre Lartigue Tunisia and Master Rallies |
| 2001 |
Co-driver for Carlos Sousa, fifth overall in Dakar Rally
Co-driver Nicolas Misslin in Tunisia, Morocco, Spain Baja and UAE Desert Challenge |
| 2002 |
Co-driver for Nicolas Misslin, 10th place in Dakar Rally, Morocco, Portugal, Masters and Shamrock rallies |
| 2003 |
Co-driver Nicolas Misslin in Dakar, Italy, Tunisia (3rd place), Portugal, Morocco and Shamrock (Victory) rallies. |
| 2004 |
Co-driver for Nicolas Misslin in Dakar Rally |
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Jean-Michel Polato was born in 1971 and studied automotive mechanics at college in 1989, before moved on to take further qualifications in automotive bodywork painting the following year. He joined the French Team Le Clerc as a mechanic and body shop worker and worked for the operation between 1991 and 1997.
After that seven-year spell he joined Würth as a technician and remains there to the present day, although his own motorsport career began in 1993, when he entered the world of kart racing. Jean-Michel spent two seasons in karting, in addition to working as a truck mechanic in cross-country rallying between 1991 and 1994.
He co-drove the lijkes of French amateurs Bruno Gilles, André Jorigne and Joël Pignon in the Morocco Rally and co-drove a Mitsubishi truck on the Dakar. His first big break came when he teamed up with the former World Champion Pierre Lartigue in 2000 and then co-drove Carlos Sousa to fifth position in the 2001 Dakar.
Polato then teamed up with Nicolas Misslin for the 2001 FIA World Cup and partnered the Marseilles driver for the 2002 and 2003 seasons. They finished 10th overall in the 2002 Dakar and third in Tunisia the following year in a factory-built Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero. He and Misslin retired from the 2004 Dakar Rally after a car fire.
*Montero in Spanish-speaking countries and USA
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