Sleeping rough in the Saudi Arabian deserts might be a tough experience for a man used to the luxuries of Formula One, but Fernando Alonso is ready for another challenge on his Dakar debut.
The teams will camp among the dunes on Wednesday night after a 534-kilometre slog through the Empty Quarter.
"I probably would enjoy more to sleep in a hotel but it is not possible in the marathon stage," the Spaniard said on Saturday, the two-week race's rest day.
The two-time F1 world champion, who is driving a Toyota, had warned before the race that he wasn't coming to the Dakar expecting to win.
That's just as well, because halfway through the Spaniard is in 16th, more than three hours behind the leader, his compatriot Carlos Sainz.
Much of that deficit comes from a disastrous second stage when Alonso lost his near front wheel and more than two and a half hours.
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"He had the necessary (equipment) to repair it but he first had to find the wheel because it had careered off into the distance," Jean-Marc Fortin, the head of the Toyota Overdrive team said.
"When they found it, it wasn't round but oval." Alonso, a double winner in Le Mans and a world endurance champion, wanted to check off the Dakar box and then the wheel came off.
"My first thoughts were hoping that the rally was not over," he said on Saturday.
"I didn't want to have a retirement in the second day. I wanted to repair the car and keep going, because I want to be in the Dakar from stage one to the last. I understand that this is part of the Dakar rally."
"It's been a very tense first week for us," he said. "But overall I think there has been very happy days for us."
-- Different terrains --
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"Here you have many hours in front of you, so the pace you have to take from the beginning is a bit lower than 100 per cent."
"There are a lot of changes in rhythm and in the pace of the stage."
"You can be 30 minutes at top speed and after that an hour at 30kph between the rocks. This change of pace is very difficult from the driver's point of view."
"I expect tough stages now," said the Spaniard. "If I can reach the top three in one of the stages, that will be a dream come true."