Tag: Dakar Rally

Sunday’s second stage of the Dakar Rally was a big one for Stéphane Peterhansel. Nicknamed “Mr. Dakar” for his record 14 overall victories in the world’s most prestigious rally raid, the Frenchman added to his legend by scoring his 50th stage win in cars on the 463km/288-mile stage from Al Henakiyah to Al Duwadimi, tying him with Ari Vatanen for the most Dakar stage wins of all time. He has 83 Dakar stage wins in all and is also the joint record holder of the motorcycle category together with Cyril Despres, with 33 apiece.

The road to Al Duwadimi, which contained the first dune fields of this year’s course, took the teams into the geographical heart of Saudi Arabia. The dunes were not tough or numerous enough to shake up the standings; instead, the entrants had to put their navigational flair to good use to get out of one maze after another.

Peterhansel brought his Audi RS Q e-tron home 29s ahead of a resurgent Sebastién Loeb, who rebounded from a poor start to the rally with his Prodrive Hunter. The win came as a surprise to Peterhansel, who’d been cruising to victory before being hit by a couple of setbacks in the closing portion of the stage.

“I think stage 2 of the last Dakar is still living rent-free in my head. We were driving on eggshells, but somehow, we still had two flat tires in the final 30 kilometers,” related the bemused Peterhansel. “Heaven knows how it happened. We really weren’t going fast, and when [Krysztof] Hołowczyc overtook me, I was unable to follow him. How to drive a heavy car on stones is beyond me.”

Despite his stage win, Peterhansel still ranks only ninth overall, 13 minutes behind Audi teammate Carlos Sainz Sr., who placed eighth today and holds an overall lead of 1m51s over Toyota driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi. Loeb moved up to third overall, 4m back, ahead of America’s Seth Quintero, who continues to impress in his first Dakar in the top class. Quintero briefly took the lead on today’s stage before settling for fourth, and is 8m57s out of the overall lead.

The competition was overshadowed by a serious accident for motorcyclist Carles Falcón. The Spanish rider crashed at km 448 of the special. A fellow entrant who had been following closely behind him immediately alerted race officials, and Falcón was airlifted by medical helicopter to Al Duwadimi Hospital, where he was listed in serious condition with unspecified injuries.

Monster Energy Honda rider Nacho Cornejo won today’s stage by 7m. The Chilean opened the road together with teammate Ricky Brabec and Hero Motorsports’ Ross Branch and played his cards right to pick up his seventh Dakar stage win. Branch is still 2m30s ahead of Cornejo overall, with America’s Brabec holding third, 7m15s back.

Guillaume de Mevius took victory for the Overdrive Toyota team in Saturday’s first official stage of the 46th Dakar Rally, a 414km/257-mile run from Al-’Ula to Al Henakiyah. It was the Belgian driver’s fourth career Dakar stage win, but his first in the premier Ultimate class.

De Mevius had ranked only 32nd in Friday’s prologue, but surged ahead of prologue winner Mattias Ekström and his Audi RS Q e-tron teammate, Dakar veteran Carlos Sainz Sr. on Saturday, finishing with a 1m44s advantage over the Spaniard. Toyota’s Giniel de Villiers finished third, some 10 minutes behind the leader, ahead of Vaidotas Zala (X-Raid Mini) and sports car/Pikes Peak ace Romain Dumas, who is driving a Rebellion-entered Toyota Hilux this year.

“A great introduction. We drove smart and avoided punctures and I think that was the key today,” said de Mevius. “But I’m quite surprised to finish so high up.”

Surprised in a less pleasant way were defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah and his Prodrive teammate Sebastien Loeb, both of whom had troubled runs and have a lot of catching up to do. Loeb ranks just 20th, 22 minutes down, while Al-Attiyah is 22nd, 25 minutes behind.

“We punctured twice in the first 50 kilometers, so after that we couldn’t really attack anymore and we just tried to reach the finish,” explained Al-Attiyah. “Even so, I’m happy because it was really difficult and we had to take it really easy in the last 150 kilometers.” Punctures also delayed Loeb.

Ross Branch took the stage win in the motorcycle class. The Botswanan was leading the special when he stopped to assist Tosha Schareina after the Spaniard crashed. Although he crossed the finish line in 16th place, he was credited 25 minutes back and tops the early leader board over America’s Ricky Brabec by 11m54s.

“Today was tough. Yesterday, in the briefing, they said it’d be physical demanding and long, and they were right for sure,” said Monster Energy Honda rider Brabec. “It was long, it was tricky and it was rocky. I started a little bit in the back today but I mean, that only helped for a little bit then. I was up front with my teammates, Skyler [Howes] and Nacho [Cornejo] and we pushed really hard all the way to the finish. It was definitely a tough day and the bike didn’t touch the ground. So I think the mechanic is going to be happy…”

In quads, Marcelo Medeiros claimed his ninth career Dakar stage win. Juraj Varga surged near the end, but he finished 2m40s behind the Brazilian. Laisvydas Kancius edged out Manuel Andújar for the podium at over 10 minutes down.

Sweden’s Mattias Ekström was victorious in his Audi on the opening prologue of the 46th Dakar Rally, which is running for the fifth time in the Saudi Arabian desert. The opening 27km/16.8-mile loop provided a mix of sandy and rocky terrain — a microcosm of what the competitors can expect on their 7,891km/4903-mile trek on roads, tracks and dunes, including 4,727km/2937 miles of specials, that runs through Jan. 19.

Ekström put his rallycross experience to good use to dominate his rivals with his Audi RS Q e-tron (pictured above). The Swede edged out America’s Seth Quintero, who began his career in the Ultimate class with panache, achieving the second-best time of the day for Toyota, even though the times are not taken into account for the general rankings. Quintero went all out to gain the opportunity of choosing an advantageous starting position tomorrow morning, as did Sebastien Loeb in third.

Brazilian brothers Marcos and Cristian Baumgart made a notable start to this Dakar with the fourth- and fifth-best times, but it was a rough start for reigning Dakar champion Nasser Al Attiyah, who has switched from Toyota to a Prodrive Hunter this year. The Qatari ranked only 12th after making a small navigation mistake. However, that is a much better situation than if he had finished in 10th place, where he would likely have been obliged to lead the way for the first official stage tomorrow.

In the bikes, Tosha Schareina began his first race as an official team rider by leading home Daniel Sanders and Ross Branch. The prologue proved disastrous for America’s Skyler Howes, who was a distant 42nd. The Monster Energy Honda rider was delayed by a crash, and then got lost in the canyons of AlUla.

“It was really not a good start for me. They keep doing these strange things like on the prologues,” fumed Howes. “You’re supposed to go through stakes but we’re off-piste, so we’re going off-track and then, more or less, you have to figure out where they want you to go. There was one moment where I came back and saw the stakes we were supposed to go through, so I cut back to go through them but hit some camel grass and had a big crash. Then my roadbook stopped working so I had no roadbook and there was one note that was tricky, you had to go through a canyon, and because I had no roadbook I was more or less following the tracks that were going all over the place. I lost more time there and got a little bit lost.

“I’m super unhappy with the start of this, but we have 14 more days so anything can happen. Tomorrow’s going to be a really long day because my time was really not so good, so I’m almost positive that I’ll be opening the stage, which is not ideal, but I’ll do my best. Now we’ll get back to the bivouac to repair the motorcycle.”

Saturday’s first official stage will be a 414km/274-mile course snaking around volcanos to Al Henakiyah.

Editor’s note: MAVTV’s coverage of Dakar Rally highlights will now air at 2pm ET/PT each day rather than 12pm as previously scheduled. Replays will air at 5pm ET/PT and 7pm ET/PT.

Highlights also air each day on Peacock at 7:30pm ET.