The Dakar Rally

GregRedd · January 13, 2024, 4:42pm

Stage 6 - Day 2

Friday, 12 January
SHUBAYTAH > SHUBAYTAH
Liaison > 209 km - Special > 549 km - Total > 758 km

Part 2 of the 48-Hour Chrono from yesterday.

Not everyone is equally equipped to deal with the Empty Quarter. The programme for the second part of the 48 HR chrono stage was again sandy, but the portions of dunes could vary greatly in their dimensions. Consequently, four bikers spent the night at rest point A in the company of fifty cars and trucks, meaning they still had to tackle 425 km (FIM) and 354 km (FIA) of sandy peaks and troughs in order to complete the first week of the Dakar.

In the meantime, the elite riders and drivers had reached the bivouac reserved for them, namely point F, from which there remained only 112 km (FIM) and 71 km (FIA) to be completed. At the finishing line, the stage victories were swept up by four French competitors, which is a first in the rally’s history. Nevertheless, an American, Ricky Brabec, and a Spaniard, Carlos Sainz, will begin the second week of the Dakar in the lead of the bike and car categories.

Stage 6 produced probably the most spectacular visuals of Dakar 24 so far. There’s no doubting that Dakar is a desert rally! The Empty Quarter living up to its name, and absolutely remarkable that competitors race through those endless dunes.

Overall Standings after Stage 6

Cars

Bikes

Disaster for Al Attiyah and his hopes of completing back-to-back-to-back Dakar wins. He’ll push on in an attempt to finish the event, but has gone from challenging for the win to 2h45m off the lead in P52 at the end of the Stage.

The legend that is Giniel de Villiers moves into the Top 10 at the end of week 1. With another week of racing to go, there’s still more than enough distance to cover for him to creep up even more. There’s less than 10 minutes between GdV and P5, so plenty to aim for in Week 2.

Ross Branch contniues to seesaw between P1 and P2 on the bikes. He goes into the Rest Day now just 51 seconds behind the new Overall Leader, America’s Ricky Brabec.

DarthMol · January 14, 2024, 12:45pm

Some of those sand dunes are huge! Especially crazy to see those trucks ploughing through.

GregRedd · January 15, 2024, 10:29am

Stage 7

Sunday, 14 January
RIYADH > AL DUWADIMI
Liaison > 390 km - Special > 483 km - Total > 873 km

The longest single day stage of the rally.

Leaving aside the lousy navigators out there who manage to stretch the course like a rubber band, covering more than 850 km in a Dakar stage is something that happens once in a blue moon. It has only happened once in Saudi Arabia, in today’s return to competition on the road from Riyadh to Al Duwadimi, clocking in at a whopping 874 km, following the prescribed route to the letter.

There was plenty of room to keep things interesting on this epic journey, especially in the 483 km timed section. Whether weaving through canyons, blasting through off-track stretches or tackling the heart of the dunes, entrants had to be a jack of all trades in this game. Nacho Cornejo —alert, inspired, nimble and focused— turned out to be a master of all trades, posting the fastest time of the day in the motorbike special.

Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb opened the road and never looked back, producing a virtuoso performance to clinch victory for the third time this year and crank up the heat on Carlos Sainz.

Overall Standings after Stage 7

Cars

Bikes

Another catastrophic stage for the Audi Sport Team - the Ekstrom RS Q e-Tron’s broken rear axle and 4 hours lost waiting for their service vehicle means Sainz Snr. is the last of the team still with a chance to take victory this year. The Spaniard had his lead reduced again by the chasing Sebastian Loeb, and now has only a 19 minute advantage.

The lead South African teams of De Villiers and Botterill continue to make good progress with both of their Toyota Gazoo Hilux’s now into the Top 10 Overall.

On the bikes, Branch from Botswana keeps his Honda Hero sandwich going by a single second! Over 32 and a half hours of desert Rally Raid racing, and Ross Branch is just one second behind Ricky Brabec. Brabec’s Honda teammate Jose Cornnejo is now 6:48 behind.

Another South African competitor - Saood Variawa - showcased in the S7 Dakar Portrait. The 18-year old in his Dakar debut is currently just outside the Top 20 overall in his Gazoo Toyota.

GregRedd · January 15, 2024, 7:06pm

Stage 8

Monday, 15 January
AL DUWADIMI > HAIL
Liaison > 220 km - Special > 458 km - Total > 678 km

Today, the rally headed to Ha’il, the cradle of all-terrain sport in Saudi Arabia, where the first generations of the country’s riders and drivers learned their trade, setting out on the seventh stage from Al Duwadimi. The day’s special was interrupted by a long transfer and the two-part menu for the stage put the riders, drivers and crews in two contrasting environments.

On this stage of two halves, with 279 kilometres against the clock, the competitors first did battle on a thick layer of sand, sometimes in the form of dunes, but not always off-piste. For the last hundred or more kilometres before the finish, the contest concluded on fast tracks with several rocky portions, requiring plenty of watchfulness.

This terrain was a familiar one for the Benavides brothers, who produced the best two times in the bike category. The common ground that they share with Mattias Ekström and Stéphane Peterhansel, who gave Audi a one-two finish on the stage, is that they have all lost any hope of overall triumph in Yanbu.

Overall Standings after Stage 8

Cars

Bikes

Some big tumbles across all the categories in the dunes today, with variable sand and deceptive dunes. Al-Attiyah retired from the Stage after just 63km of the Special with a failed engine. It’s not clear yet if he’ll be able to continue. Or if he’ll even want to.

Yesterday’s damaged Ekstrom Audi was obviously well repaired overnight, with the Swede back in fine and fast form today, taking the Stage win without any hiccups. Audi teammate Carlos Sainz was 4th on the Stage and keeps the Overall lead. His main pursuer, Sebastien Loeb, had a difficult Stage, losing over 11 minutes due to a navigation error, which allowed Sainz to extend his lead to almost 25 minutes now. As his hopes of a maiden Dakar victory fades, the French WRC legend is going to be hoping some bad luck falls the way of the Spanish leaders.

The Benavides brothers take the top two positions on the Stage in the GP Bike category - a Dakar first. The top three stay Brabec, Branch, and Cornejo. The gap between the leaders is still under a minute, and Cornejo has closed on Branch a little more.

A stark reminder this evening that, as magnificent and adventurous as it all seems to us on the outside, the Dakar Rally remains an incredibly dangerous, difficult, and challenging event. Spanish rider, Carles Falcon, passed away earlier today due to injuries he sustained after he crashed on Stage 2 of the rally. He is the 33rd competitor to have lost their life in the history of the Dakar.

R.I.P.

GregRedd · January 16, 2024, 3:47pm

Stage 9

Tuesday, 16 January
HAIL > AL ULA
Liaison > 222 km - Special > 417 km - Total > 639 km

The expedition back to Al Ula has surely brought back some memories. However, it was not a return to square one, because the situation has evolved considerably since the prologue. The return journey spared the competitors from the volcanic rocks, instead opting for the northern route from Al Duwadimi, which nevertheless shared some common ground with the previous visit.

Over the majority of the 436-kilometre special, the riders, drivers and crews had to be doubly vigilant, by carefully riding or driving to avoid punctures on the rocky portions and then by paying extreme attention to reading the roadbook when faced with the wealth of tracks in front of them.

The strongest at this game was Adrien Van Beveren, who was able to adapt his position of stage opener for most of the day in order to win in Al Ula. Sebastian Loeb makes it two stage wins in row in the Ultimate Cars category, and did close the gap to Carlos Sainz a little again.

Nasser Al Attiyah exited yesterday’s special due to an engine problem. The Qatari has received a stage penalty of 20 hours and 20 minutes after having received the maximum penalty of 10 hours and 10 minutes yesterday. He now occupies 87th position in the general rankings almost 30 hours behind Carlos Sainz, but he is at the start of the day’s special. However…

Shortly after starting, Nasser Al Attiyah made an about-turn to join the road itinerary due to a mechanical problem. By exiting the special, he will only have one trump card left to play in order to resume tomorrow in the search for W2RC points.

Overall Standings after Stage 9

Cars

Bikes

Navigation mistakes today for Ross Branch leaves him trailing the American leader in the GP Bike category by some distance now. After two stages with less than a minute between the two, Brabec now has a much more comfortable 7+ minutes in hand. This despite still not yet winning a stage in this years rally - he was second again today. With his solid stage win today, Adrien van Beveren replaces his Honda teammate Jose Cornejo on the provisional Overall podium, keeping Branch on his Hero sandwiched between Hondas.

Sainz Snr. maintains his overall lead after completing the stage in an Audi convoy with his now out of contention teammates Ekstrom and Peterhansel. Despite giving a few more minutes back to stage winner Seb Loeb, Sainz still holds a solid 20+ minute lead. And with just a few more specials left, all the pressure is on Loeb now who will have to drive aggressively in order to try to reel in the time difference. By contrast, Sainz just has to keep moving at a steady, comfortable pace.

Just three more stages of Dakar 2024 to go now. Failing any major problems on the last three stages, the De Villiers/Murphy (P5) and Botterill/Cummings (P9) Hiluxes should stay Top ten to the end.

oltman · January 17, 2024, 10:47pm

GregRedd · January 18, 2024, 4:26pm

Missed things yesterday - sorry.

Stage 10

Wednesday, 17 January
AL ULA > AL ULA
Liaison > 241 km - Special > 371 km - Total > 612 km

Fresh memories never lie. Seeing the loop carved out near AlUla, starting and finishing at the bivouac where everyone had gathered less than two weeks ago, it was a given that this special was going to be a wild ride.

The timed sector stretched for 371 kilometres on sandy terrain with a need for speed, either on the track or off-track, sometimes through rocky areas, but almost invariably with nuances to decipher in the road book.

The showdown among the leading competitors was shaped by tricky navigation in the motorbike race and, to some extent, the risk of punctures in the car race. Ricky Brabec took a step closer to a second title, while Guerlain Chicherit and his Hilux managed to weave through the pack much faster than all his rivals in the stage. The battle between Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb rages on…

Overall Standings after Stage 10

Cars

Bikes

Yesterday, they were rivals. Today, they are brothers in arms. Such has been the dynamic shift in the relationship between Ricky Brabec and Adrien Van Beveren, swinging in favour of the former and potentially catapulting the latter up the ranks in the two stages between here and the final podium in Yanbu. Tasked with opening the road, it seemed unlikely for the Frenchman to take a quantum leap in the standings. However, from the refuelling station onward, he reunited with his Honda teammate. A strategic alliance seemed not just possible, but almost preordained.

One half of the partnership, Ricky Brabec, secured his first stage win of the year, the tenth in his career, pushing his lead over Ross Branch to 10 minutes. The other half, Van Beveren, managed to bring his deficit to the Botswanan under the 1-minute mark. Monster Energy Honda’s teamwork could pave the way for a red 1-2. For now, we saw a Honda hat-trick for the second consecutive day, overshadowing the competition. Once again, Nacho Cornejo’s spot-on navigation played a crucial role, securing the runner-up’s spot just 2 seconds behind!

Once upon a time, not so long ago, Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb were teammates too, with the Spaniard adding the finishing touch to Peugeot’s victorious streak in 2018. Those days are gone and, as the 2024 edition nears its end, all that remains is a polite yet fierce rivalry.

Today was all about avoiding punctures. Carlos Sainz had a stroke of misfortune, finding himself without a spare wheel after getting not one, but two flat tyres. His title prospects would have been dead and buried had Mattias Ekström not come to his rescue, although the whole incident cost him seven or minutes. This was almost exactly the time that he ended up losing to Sébastien Loeb, who also ended up frustrated after it took him fifteen minutes to change his two tyres due to a broken hydraulic jack. 13 minutes separate the top contenders with two stages to go.

GregRedd · January 18, 2024, 5:45pm

Stage 11

Thursday, 18 January
AL ULA > YANBU
Liaison > 107 km - Special > 420 km - Total > 527 km

Over the 420 kilometres against the clock, the leaders were intent on holding strong and their pursuers were determined to attack. Ricky Brabec was equal to the task, still unshakeable despite Ross Branch’s stage victory, and Carlos Sainz was able to take advantage of Sébastien Loeb’s setbacks.

Everything was still possible… but only relatively speaking in the bike category, in which the Monster Energy Honda Team had locked up the leader’s position for Ricky Brabec. With the pact accepted by all the reds, there was still the issue of second place to be settled, a place accessible to Adrien Van Beveren, who is on top form, or also Nacho Cornejo, both of whom started the day less than 4 minutes behind Ross Branch. The Chilean’s case was settled after 111 km, where he had to struggle with his bike to solve a fuel pump problem.

There were no more twists in the tale on two wheels, but the plot developments in the Ultimate class of the car category were even more spectacular, with the duel between Sainz and Loeb causing live tracking addicts to break out in cold sweats throughout the day. As Loeb’s adventures unfolded (see A crushing blow), the race scenarios changed several times. The BRX driver was able to save his place on the podium but owes this chiefly to the first major setback experienced on the Dakar by Lucas Moraes. With a time loss of more than two hours, the Brazilian came down to earth with a bang, from 3rd place to 9th place in the race hierarchy, to be precise.

On the contrary, Guerlain Chicherit, still demonstrating fine pace at the end of this edition of the Dakar, continued to climb up the rankings and has now reached 4th place thanks to a second consecutive stage success won as an opener. To climb onto the podium tomorrow, he will have to gain 7 minutes over 175 kilometres from Sébastien Loeb, while opening once again, which is far from a simple equation.

Overall Standings after Stage 11

Cars

Bikes

All change on the penultimate day for the cars! And disaster for French challenge. Seb Loeb, after his fantastic push to claw back time on Sainz, took a too brutal landing after a jump, which broke his front-wheel axel unit after 132 km. Second position and just 13 minutes behind the Spaniard at the start of the day, Loeb managed to get to the end of the stage an hour and a half behind the Stage winner.

Sainz looks to have this one wrapped up. Just the short 175 km Special final stage tomorrow, and a lead now of 01:27:06 over Stage 1 winner Guillaume de Mevius in one of the Prodrive Racing Hiluxes. Loeb now sits P3 Overall, 10 minutes behind the Belgian.

A slow stage time for our own Geniel de Villiers too today. He does however still move up the Overall ranking to P6, but now sits behind compatriot Guy Botterill who also moved up on the day and is now P5 overall.

GregRedd · January 20, 2024, 12:32pm

Stage 12 & Final Classifications

Friday, 19 January
YANBU > YANBU
Liaison > 153 km - Special > 175 km - Total > 328 km

The finale is devoid of major difficulties, but it could still be decisive. A 144-kilometre timed section is never a comfortable place to be for the person leading the race. After all, Toby Price was tantalisingly close to his third trophy at the start of stage 14 last year, but his 12-second margin was not enough to contain the surge of Kevin Benavides, who pipped him at the post to claim the motorbike title. The gaps near the top could be a bit wider this year… but you never know!

The last special does not include any major difficulties, but can still prove decisive. A 174-kilometre time trial around Yanbu is always a threat to whoever is in the lead. The race hierarchy and how it develops will not necessarily be stressful for the leaders… but anything is possible as long as the big finish arch of the 46th Dakar hasn’t been crossed!

Overall Standings after Stage 12 (Official Final Standings)

The 46th edition of the Dakar, the 5th to be organised in Saudi Arabia, has finished after more than 4,700 kilometres of specials and a total distance of almost 8,000 kilometres, which tested the riders, drivers, co-pilots and crews, from the ancient city of AlUla to the shores of the Red Sea, passing through the oceans of dunes in the Empty Quarter.
The major winners of the 2024 edition have each, in their own way, taken advantage of teams capable of building success based on their collective strength. Among the favourites in the Monster Energy Honda clan, American Ricky Brabec won a second title following his triumph in 2020, by resisting Ross Branch on his Hero, the first Indian bike to grace the Dakar podium, onto which Adrien Van Beveren climbed for the first time in his career, with third place, also riding a Honda.
In the car category, there was an unexpected consecration for the hybrid Audi driven by Carlos Sainz. In his duel with Sébastien Loeb, who in the end finished 3rd, the Spaniard picked up his fourth title thanks partially to the back-up provided by his team-mates Stéphane Peterhansel and Mattias Ekstr öm, as El Matador finished with a lead of 1 hour and 20 minutes over Belgian Guillaume de Mevius.
On the final stage, the battle in the Challenger class was turned on its head, to the detriment of Mitch Guthrie and in favour of Cristina Gutiérrez, who became the first female driver to win a Dakar title since Jutta Kleinschmidt in 2001.
In the SSV category, Xavier de Soultrait also won by the narrowest of margins, having failed to win in his career on a motorbike but taking victory in a Polaris driving for the Sébastien Loeb Racing team, which will be a small consolation for the man from Alsace.
Lastly, thanks to Martin Mac ík, the truck category witnessed the Czech Republic’s grand return to the summit of the rally, 23 years after the country’s last triumph was earned by Karel Loprais, whose nephew Ale š Loprais finished as runner-up to Mac ík.
In total, 239 vehicles (versus 340 that took starter’s orders) reached Yanbu, including 96 bikes (vs 132), 7 quads (vs 10), 55 Ultimate class cars (vs 70), 3 Stock class cars (vs 3), 29 Challenger class cars (vs 42), 28 SSVs (vs 36) and 21 trucks (vs 47). Among them, the riders, drivers and crews of 182 vehicles were able to climb onto the final podium to receive a finisher’s medal, with the remainder not having completed the entirety of the route.
Finally, the 4th edition of the Dakar Classic, which brought together 78 vehicles, finished with 71 crews. Spaniard Carlos Santaolalla Milla won the race for regularity. The Mission 1000 terrains challenge enabled 10 vehicles powered by innovative alternative engine technologies to tackle the of the Dakar and look ahead to the future.