Juan Porcar reunited with his Range Rover V8 after 39 years at last weekend’s 24 Heures Tout-Terrain de France, where it was being fielded by current owner Teampayen.

Porcar drove the Range Rover to a tenth-place overall finish in the 1987 Paris–Dakar Rally with Rosendo Touriñan as his navigator. It was Porcar’s sixth Dakar, having made his debut in 1982 on a bike before switching to driving in 1984. He and Touriñan improved upon the ’87 run with an eighth in the 1990 Dakar for Team Repsol Nissan, and they continued together until 1997.

Teampayen bought the Range Rover and had it restored by On/Off Road Garages over a three-year process. Work was completed by 2025, after which Daniel Sallin and Thomas Payen raced it in the M’Hamid Express. Classic rally raid veteran Yannick Panagiotis and his wife Valérie have also driven the Range Rover, including at the 24H TT France.

“I was only the instigator of this project, the one who made it possible to put the two puzzle pieces together,” Teampayen co-owner Baptiste Payen explained. “But this couldn’t have happened without the work of On/Off Road and Kévin (Di Giusto) who spent his time, experience, and passion for Ranges bringing this mystical automobile back to life in three years.

“Unfrotunately, this was a passion project that took a toll on him and his garage, but like the story of this resurrected Range Rover, Mr. Kévin isn’t dead yet, quite the opposite. He was able to bounce back.”

Besides the Panagiotises and Mélanie Brule, Porcar and Touriñan’s names remain present on the doors.

The car ultimately did not complete the race, and Payen stressed the result was “in no way a reflection of his work.”

Porcar, now a journalist, wrote on Instagram:

It was like waking from a dream.

This weekend I experienced something that, after 39 years, I thought could only exist in my memory; meeting again with that Range Rover that in 1987 made us feel like we were almost touching the sky in Dakar. There it was. Right in front of me. Rebuilt down to the last detail, rejuvenated with a delicacy and respect that deeply moved me. For a few seconds I didn’t quite know what to do. I could only look at him. Baptiste Payen has been the soul of this story. A motor and 4×4 enthusiast who found this car in a sorry state.

As Baptiste told me the story, the words of Miguel Hernández’s Para la libertad came to mind: “el árbol talado que retoño: aún tengo la vida.” (“I am like the felled tree that sprouted again: I still have life.”

That was exactly what happened.

That car had been cast aside, almost forgotten, but it wasn’t dead. Baptiste saw its potential and brought it back to life.

We met again at the 24 Hours TT of France, very close to Paris.

I saw it from afar and approached slowly. I placed my hands on its bodywork, caressed the steering wheel, and my eyes began to recognize every single detail. It was immaculate. For a moment, I even had the feeling that he was smiling at me.

I thought of Rosendo Touriñán. I would have loved for him to be there with me. He lived that adventure by my side, and I know how much he would have enjoyed this moment. Perhaps, in some way, he was there.

I was also thrilled to meet Baptiste’s team. It is hard to put into words the spirit they convey. It is a group made up of professionals and friends, men and women united by an enormous passion, capable of working, sacrificing and giving themselves for something that goes far beyond a simple competition. And the drivers, Yannick Panagiotis, Valérie Panagiotis and Mélanie Brule, were fortunate enough to drive this machine which, for me, a long time ago, ceased to be simply a car.

Thank you Baptiste and thank you to your entire team.

39 years later, the tree has sprouted again.

Featured image credit: Teampayen