Navigation has changed a lot over the years, in terms of preparation time, but also in terms of equipment. How do you deal with that? “The problem is that a good navigator is a bit autistic and we hate change. But well, there has to be an evolution and especially safety – it should not be undervalued. Driving is much faster now than it used to be. Just look at the classification results of the 80-90s compared to now. Everything has to be right, otherwise it becomes really dangerous. Making a road book like this is a very precise job and ambiguities don’t belong in it.” Will the French language remain the basis for the abbreviations in the road book? “The FIA has been working for a few years to unify the abbreviations in the road book. Last year this led to a mixture of English and French. But Le Dakar is a great tradition, isn’t it? As far as I’m concerned, it can stay French.”
You have navigated in both car and truck. Which one do you prefer? “Difficult question. I enjoyed both very much. I am most grateful to Gerard de Rooy, who asked me to come and navigate with him in the truck back in 2003. My reaction to Gerard was, that I had never done it before, to which Gerard replied: - doesn’t matter, because I am doing it for the first time as well -. We were the Enfant terrible of the Dakar, but we did manage to achieve great results. In 2012 I won Le Dakar with Gerard De Rooy in the truck category. “But there comes a time when you have to choose if you want to go higher up. I got the chance to drive with Bernhard ten Brinke, and that brought me further. It’s just in my nature that if I go for it, I want to win a rally. And from the moment I started navigating in the car, I have been able to make it my profession. So, I am happy and especially grateful that I got the chance to start navigating for Bernhard ten Brinke. A few years later you then get the trust of Sven Quandt and you get to drive for his Mini team for a few years, which means that you are not doing badly at all as a small Belgian.” In 2019 Tom finished fourth in the Dakar, his best result in cars. That year he won the world cross country title with Jakub Przygonski. Two years ago, he won the world title in cross country bajas as co-pilot.
COLSOUL’S RALLY CV Rally Raids with Guy Colsoul Rallysport 1997 Master Rally (Paris - Moscow) Mitsubishi - Guy Colsoul 1997 Baja Aragon Mitsubishi - Guy Colsoul 2000 Baja Aragon Mitsubishi - Bob Colsoul 2001 Baja Aragon Mitsubishi - Bob Colsoul Rally Raid results in truck category with Team de Rooy, driver Gerard de Rooy (27 stage wins in Le Dakar) 2003 Dakar DAF - crash, while being 1st overall 2004 Dakar DAF - finish with 3rd overall 2005 Dakar DAF - 5th overall 2007 Dakar GINAF retired, while being 2nd overall 2008 Transorientale (St Petersburg - Beijing) GINAF retiredl 2009 Dakar Iveco - 3rd overall 2009 Silk Way (Kazan - Ashgabat) Iveco - 2nd overall 2011 Oillibya Maroc Iveco - 2nd overall 2012 Dakar Iveco - 1st overall 2012 Oillibya Maroc Iveco - 1st overall 2013 Dakar Iveco - 4th overall 2013 Baja300 Germany Iveco - 1st overall 2014 Dakar Iveco - 2nd overall Rally Raid car category, Overdrive Bernhard ten Brinke 2014 Baja Poland 2014 Oillibya Maroc - 4th overall 2015 Dakar - 7th overall
2015 Baja Hungary - 2nd overall 2015 Baja Poland - 3rd overall 2015 Oillibya Maroc - 9th overall 2016 Dakar Toyota - retired (fire)
Rally Raid car category, Mini X-Raid 2016 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Kuba - Przygonski 5th overall 2016 Sealine Cross Country Rally Qatar - Ricardo Porem 7th overall 2016 Baja Italia - Bryce Menzies 5th overall 2016 Baja Spain - Orly Terranova 5th overall 2016 Baja Poland - Kuba Przygonski 4th overall 2016 Oilibya Maroc - Kuba Przygonski 5th overall 2017 Dakar - Kuba Przygonski 7th overall 2017 Qatar Cross Country Rally - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2017 Kazakhstan Rally - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2017 Italian Baja - Kuba Przygonski 1st overall 2017 Silk Way Rally - Yazeed Al Rahji 10th overall 2017 Baja Hungary - Kuba Przygonski 3rd overall 2017 Baja Poland - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2017 Oillibya Maroc - Kuba Przygonski 4th overall 2018 Dakar - Kuba Przygonski 5th overall 2018 Baja Russia - Kuba Przygonski 4th overall 2018 Baja Dubai - Kuba Przygonski 1st overall 2018 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2018 Qatar Cross Country Rally - Kuba Przygonski 1st overall 2018 Kazakhstan Rally - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2018 Italian Baja - Kuba Przygonski 1st overall
2018 Baja Spain - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2018 Baja Hungary - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2018 Baja Poland - Kuba Przygonski 1st overall 2018 Rallye du Maroc - Kuba Przygonski 2nd overall 2019 Dakar Mini X-Raid Kuba Przygonski 4th overall Rally Raid car category, Toyota Toyota Gazoo Bernhard ten Brinke 2019 Qatar Cross Country Rally - 5th overall 2019 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge - retired (suspension) 2019 Kazakhstan Rally - 15th overall (driveshaft) 2019 Baja Aragon - retired (wheel hub) 2019 Rallye du Maroc - 25th overall (front suspension) 2020 Dakar - 7th overall 2020 Baja Poland - 1st overall 2020 Andalucia Rally - 33rd overall (driveshaft) 2020 Baja Portalegre - 1st overall 2020 Baja Ha’il1 - 6th overall 2020 Baja Ha’il2 - 7th overall 2021 Dakar - retired (crash) Rally Raid car category, OT3 Red Bull Off Road Junior Team Guillaume de Mevius 2021 Andalucia Rally - retired (gearbox) while being 1st T3 2021 Kazakhstan Rally - 20th overall 8th T3 2021 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge - 3rd overall in 2022 FIA conformity 2022 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge - retired (rear diff)
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In what way were you able to make a difference in the rally as a navigator. “The nice thing about cross-country rallies is that you can make the difference between winning and losing. If we make a mistake, it can ruin the result. We used to get the road book in the evening. If you studied it well and made the right notes, you were able to win a few minutes. Preparing in the night was one of my great qualities. You get a lot of satisfaction from being able to win a few minutes by preparing properly. Now we have the electronic road book, so that chance has gone. But something really had to be done to stop the cheating. All credit to David Castera for getting this through, because that was a feat”.
