Jacques Clatot, who was nicknamed “Monsieur Pinzgauer” and “Le Spécialiste du Pinz” because of the Steyr-Puch rapid assistance vehicles he drove at the Paris–Dakar Rally in the 1980s, has passed away.

Clatot was an employee of Honda France who competed in 1970s raids like the Côte–Côte on a 125cc Honda XL. After the Dakar was created by Côte–Côte alumnus Thierry Sabine, he signed up as the driver of a six-wheeled Pinzgauer service truck.

Since assistance vehicles were also included in the classification, Clatot and his companions Jean-Claude Kaiser and Dietmar Beinhauer finished 27th overall in their first start in 1980. Their Pinzgauer sported BMW branding for the race.

In 1981, he and Alain Duhamel were 31st overall with a new white-red-blue livery. Clatot briefly switched to a 4×4 Pinzgauer for 1982, finishing 65th with Aimé Chatard as navigator, before returning to the 6×6. The latter DNF’s in 1983 and was 70th in 1984 with Denis Bacholle by his side, then retired again in 1985 with Pierre Olhagaray.

Clatot and Dominique Meignen tried a Unimog at the 1986 Dakar and retired. He had one more start with the Pinzgauer in 1987 before he decided to commit to actually racing.

In 1988, he and his ’87 co-driver Christian Chiaravita raced a Land Rover 110 in the T2 category and finished 48th overall. Clatot drove a Defender from 1992 to 1994, retiring in ’93 but finishing ninth in T2 at the first (29th overall) and an impressive fourth in class at the last (21st).

His final Dakar came in 1998, where he and Chiaravita bowed out in their Land Rover Discovery.