Hervé Quinet was between life and death ten years ago. “February 2011, I have a heart attack and therefore cardiovascular disease. I am having an emergency open-heart operation“Says this inhabitant of Bray-sur-Seine (Seine-et-Marne). After his operation, his cardiologist is clear: Hervé Quinet will never be able to get into a car again. But seven months later, in September 2011, after serious rehabilitation and with a lot of courage, his cardiologist gives him the green light he was waiting for.
Back on the slopes
Returning to the world of the living, Hervé Quinet fondly remembers this episode. “I dare say it, when the cardiologist told me I could never get in a tub again, I cried like a kid“, he recalls. But the worst is now behind him.”The Dakar project was born five years ago, at the beginning we were shopping with friends in Morocco and then I bought a car, a Canadian “Desert Warrior” car., he adds.
“I have always been passionate about motorsport, asphalt rally, auto cross, hill climb, I have always done so. It’s an overflowing passion and I have always had this image of doing this Dakar. For me, the Dakar, I did it 40 times in front of my television“, Hervé Quinet smiles. He is participating in the race with an exceptional co-pilot, his wife Marie Laure.”She also saved my life “, he continues.
He started in the premier category of racing. In the auto category with the big names. Carlos Sainz, Stéphane Peterhansel, Sébastien Loeb. “Unpretentious, I will try to follow them, from afar, from very, very far“, laughs Hervé Quinet. But behind this race, the Seino-Marne has a goal: for each kilometer traveled, he agrees to donate 1 euro to the Heart and Health association of Joigny (Yonne).”Because it is in Yonne that I did my rehabilitation“, he explains quite simply.
He promises to give all of this money (8,000 euros for the 8,000 kilometers) even if he does not go to the end of the race, an open-hearted gesture.