Carlos Sainz just needed to take his hybrid Audi to the finish line to complete his fourth Dakar Rally, and so he did. He was going to win the stage, but in the final stretch of the penultimate special of the test he did not take unnecessary risks, he used pragmatism and settled for third place 5m35s behind the stage winner, the Toyota of Guerlain Chicherit (4h43m). The 61-year-old driver from Madrid still has to overcome the 175-kilometer process this Friday, on the shores of the Red Sea, to beat himself, for the second time, as the oldest winner of the test.
Your mechanics will be tightening all the nuts tonight, and they probably won’t pay attention to so many accumulated nerves. Only a setback, a fatality that is unfortunately not foreign to him, would prevent him from completing the German brand’s project with a victory. The builder’s plan is to say goodbye following a million-dollar outlay in just three or so years of performance and thus be able to boast of having built in such a short time the first vehicle with electric motors – charged, yes, by a beastly gasoline engine – that will be leads the toughest rally on the planet. For Sainz it would be the fourth crown with a different brand following Volkswagen (2010), Peugeot (2018) and Mini (2020), always alongside the Barcelona native Lucas Cruz, with whom he has shared 12 of his 17 participations. “It was a very important stage to finish without problems. It was fundamental, the decisive stage of the rally, but my experience also tells me that the races must be finished, and there is one day left,” he shared upon his arrival at the last bivouac of the event.
The red carpet was soon rolled out by Sébastien Loeb due to a mechanical breakdown in his BRX Prodrive. At kilometer 132 of the 420 scheduled on the scree between Al Ula and Yanbu, the nine-time World Rally Champion hit his Hunter badly and broke the car’s right front fork. Desperate, he tried to repair the irreparable until he raised the white flag with a call to his people. He needed the team’s support truck to get spare parts when it hadn’t even started at the starting line. Luckily, a private Hunter belonging to the Chinese Zi Yungang came to his rescue when he was already asking for the helicopter to withdraw from the test: he gave him the necessary parts to repair the suspension in a highly applauded gesture. In the operation, between one thing and another, an hour and a quarter and practically all possibilities of victory were left.
The abrupt outcome avoided the drama anticipated by the organization in the expected outcome among the sharp stones on the way to Yanbu, a scenario that will crown Sainz, a living legend of motorsports, if nothing goes wrong at the last minute. It was by no means an easy special, and Cruz described the situation as a “field of corpses” due to the high incidence of mechanical failures and punctures. After clearing the stage without major setbacks and overtaking their rival at full speed at the scene of the incident, the couple enjoys an advantage of almost an hour and a half over their closest pursuer.
The Belgian Guillaume De Mevius, representative of the new batch of talent that is preparing for the withdrawal of the great totems, still dominating the event and the story, took advantage of the debacle of several strong men in the general classification to rise to second place. After his crash, Loeb arrives third in the last special, 1h35m behind the Spaniard and just 8 minutes behind second place.
“Everything went well, we only had one puncture towards the end. When we saw Seb stopped, we drove more carefully, we took it very calmly,” explained the Spaniard, still cautious. “There are 175 kilometers left to race, and I know very well that in this rally you have to take the car to the end. If I have them more than an hour away, it is clear that I am not going to rush.” Loeb, who saw his great rival’s Audi passing by, was sporting in defeat and warned the Spaniard to slow down and not eat any of the treacherous rocks in the narrow and twisty area between large canyons where he finished off. define the career.
Brabec and Honda caress the victory
In the motorcycle category, it does not seem that last year’s explosive outcome will be repeated, which crowned Kevin Benavides (KTM) by just 43 seconds, the smallest margin in history. Honda, which has dominated the strategy at all times in this edition, will take its third Dakar in Saudi Arabia, promoting Ricky Brabec, its oldest driver, for the second time. The 32-year-old American kept Ross Branch (Hero), winner of the eleventh stage and his main rival throughout the race, at bay. Thanks to the bonuses for opening the track, he arrives at the ride through Yanbu with just over 10 minutes ahead of the Botswana driver.
The superiority of the Japanese manufacturer has been overwhelming, and its drivers have won seven of the 11 stages contested, eight including the prologue. The mechanical problems of Chilean Nacho Cornejo, in fact, ruined the plans to attempt a full podium finish this Friday. If the film doesn’t change much, Adrien Van Beveren will take third place in the category.
