2015 Dakar Rally: here’s how the Peugeot 2008 DKR could surprise everyone

The Peugeot 2008 DKR has plenty resting on its hulking shoulders. Yes, this highly modified off-roader has been developed specifically for the French automaker’s return to the gruelling Dakar Rally after an absence of some 25 years.

And it’s a mean-looking thing, isn’t it?

But is anyone really expecting the plucky Pug to have any hope of ending MINI’s recent domination of the famous endurance race?

Well, despite Peugeot’s undoubted rally raid pedigree — the manufacturer claimed four consecutive Dakar wins from 1987 to 1990 with the Peugeot 205 T16 and Peugeot 405 T16 — it’d be nothing short of foolish to head into the sandy battle simply expecting victory.

Read more on Motorburn.