You off to spectate? A mate did the Dakar a few years back as a mechanic in a racing lorry, said it was epic and unbelievably hard.
Unfortunately my job did not let me the time to travel for more than a week or ten days. A also didn't have skills to put in as your mate had. So I decided to take the small solution: In the ninetees we participated in 4x4 trials in Germany. It was not a question of speed. You "only" had to pass several goals with a with of 2,20 meters in difficult terrain. It would have been good fun for you and your LandRover. For every competition you needed two weekends. One to drive and the next one to clean the car (outside PLUS inside). Hope to find some pictures in the future. All the best for 2019 Werner