What's the news?

Team Peugeot-Total has given us full specs on its awesome Dakar rally entrant for 2015. And it really is awesome, as - despite it packing 340hp and 800Nm - the 2008 DKR will be mid-engined and rear-wheel drive. Fantastic!

Mechanicals

There's method to Team Peugeot-Total's seeming madness, though. The weight penalty four-wheel drive incurs is one benefit to opting for a rear-drive set-up, while cross-country rallying's version of 'balance of performance' allows two-wheel drive cars certain technical advantages to try and put them on a level footing with the all-wheel drive entrants - so the 2008 DKR can use bigger, 17-inch wheels, is permitted 210mm of extra suspension travel over four-wheel drive cars (at 460mm in total) and the lack of any drivetrain components at the front means it has much shorter overhangs, allowing it to traverse serious angles of attack on inclines and descents.

The larger wheels also allow the team to incorporate a remotely-adjustable tyre pressure system within the cockpit of the 2008 DKR, which could save precious minutes when the vehicles encounter areas with lots of sand dunes and they need to quickly drop a few psi from each corner.

The 2008 DKR uses a 3.0-litre, 24-valve V6 biturbo diesel engine to kick out 340hp and 800Nm. It only revs to 5,000rpm and top speed is quoted as 124mph, although that's not as important as how quickly it will get there, which, despite the lack of any such data from Peugeot, will be very quickly indeed, no matter what the terrain.

The engine is mated to a six-speed sequential manual gearbox and the whole lot is mounted in a tubular steel chassis with carbon fibre bodywork, plus a 400-litre fuel tank for good measure. Trying to pilot this animal to success will be drivers Carlos Sainz and Cyril Despres, and if they win it will be the first vehicle to take victory on the Dakar with two-wheel drive and diesel power.

Anything else?

Over to Peugeot Sport director Bruno Famin, who wins the 2014 award for the 'Most Tenuous Link Between Motorsport and Road Car Products' when he says: "Given that the production 2008 is a two-wheel drive crossover equipped with Grip Control technology, which enables it to go just about anywhere, it is only right that the 2008 DKR derivative should similarly take on the challenges of the Dakar with just two-wheel drive." Yes, quite - and we'll all be waiting a long time until you can buy a road-going 2008 with a mid-mounted 3.0-litre V6...