From reading the report (Carlos Sainz quoted), it seems that Audi thought that they were offered an advantage that was rescinded ‘just before’ the event started.NL_Fer wrote: ↑04 Jan 2022, 18:37I understand they were not allowed to compensate for the extra weight compared to their ICE counterparts.
So I could be possible that they tried to keep the weight of the chassis and suspension down, to prevent to much weigh increase of the car. Lighter parts are often less durable.
Paris-Dakar was hard on Peugeot when they first entered (as a manufacturer), historically P-D has been unforgiving.