Contested over two days, Thursday and Friday, the sixth stage of the Dakar 2024, without the possibility for competitors to repair their machines, has already shaken up the positions, notably with the abandonment of car leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi and the mechanical problems of Stéphane Peterhansel.
[Updated January 11 at 2:44 p.m.] The sixth stage of the Dakar 2024, called “48 hours” because it was contested over two days (Thursday and Friday) without the possibility of repairs, without assistance or communication, promised spectacle and twists and turns. Halfway through Thursday, although most of the favorites, both cars and motorcycles, have already swallowed nearly three-quarters of the 626 kilometers of the special before joining one of the seven bivouacs scattered along the route, it is clear that the general classification will be shaken up when the competitors return to Shubaytah on Friday.
This is particularly true in the cars where leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi left the race only 51 kilometers after the start. The Saudi’s Toyota rolled over and was too damaged to allow the man who had been leading the race until then to get back on the track. Al-Rajhi is not the only one to have lost the Dakar during this new type of stage. Stéphane Peterhansel, ranked sixth overall this morning and started at a good pace, experienced a major breakdown which he explained at kilometer 256 in comments relayed on the race website. “We had a puncture, and the body of the hydraulic jack failed. As we don’t have a manual jack, we don’t know how we’re going to be able to change the wheel. The hydraulic system being damaged, I no longer have power steering and I don’t know how we’re going to get through this.” Nearly two hours behind the best at the halfway point, the Frenchman has lost his chances of winning a 15th Dakar, and there is nothing to say that he will be able to leave tomorrow morning.
Far from all these worries, Carlos Sainz is so far the one who has done the best operation on this marathon stage. The Spaniard enjoys himself in the dunes and finds himself, with more than 20 minutes taken for the moment from Nasser Al-Attiyah, second this morning, in the position of provisional leader. The Swede Mattias Ekström, on Audi like Sainz, is also at the party and now in the shoes of a virtual runner-up. Finally, Sébastien Loeb, who had chosen to lose time the day before so as not to open the track and follow in the footsteps of his main competitors, sees his tactics pay off since the Alsatian is provisionally third in the stage and could be the one of the big winners when the accounts come up on Friday evening.
There was less upheaval on the motorcycle side. A contender for victory, Pablo Quintanilla, however, saw all his hopes of victory disappear. Winner the day before, the Chilean fell while passing fuel 10 kilometers from a refueling point and lost more than an hour and a half in the process. Third when hitting the road this Thursday, the American Ricky Brabec drove at full throttle all day and closed his gap on the leader Ross Branch and his runner-up Jose Ignacio Cornelo Florimo to spend the night in the shoes of the virtual leader. Only one biker was faster than the Californian, and it was the Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren who was a little over a minute ahead when the gong rang at 2 p.m. (local time), stipulating to all participants on two wheels to stop the race and join the nearest bivouac to spend the night. It will make it possible to repair (a little) the organisms, but not the machines, as stipulated in the regulations for this stage unlike any other.
1. (=) Al Rajhi/Gottschalk (Toyota) in 17h24’04″2. ( 1) Al Attiyah/Baumel (Prodrive Hunter) at 9’03″3. (-1) Sainz/Cruz (Audi) at 11’31″4. ( 1) Ekström/Bergkvist (Audi) at 22’58″5. ( 2) Serradori/Minaudier (Century) at 31’6. ( 2) Peterhansel/Boulanger (Audi) at 34’12″7. ( 2) Zala/Fiuza (Mini) at 37’07″8. ( 2) De Mevius/Panseri (Toyota) at 41’51″9. (-3) Loeb/Lurquin (Prodrive Hunter) at 43’03″10. (-6) Moraes/Monleon (Toyota) at 54’47”
1. (1) Ross Branch (BWA/Hero) in 19h05’03″2. (-1) Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (CHI/Honda) at 1’14″3. (=) Ricky Brabec (USA/Honda) at 3’47″4. ( 1) Adrien Van Beveren (FRA/Honda) at 18’10″5. (-1) Kévin Benavides (ARG/KTM) at 21’17″6. (1) Pablo Quintanilla (CHI/Honda) at 26’47″7. (-1) Luciano Benavides (ARG/Husqvarna) at 30’36″8. (=) Toby Price (AUS/KTM) at 31’36″9. ( 2) Daniel Sanders (AUS/GASGAS) at 37’44″10. (=) Romain Dumontier (FRA/Husqvarna) at 38’52”
Al Attiyah/Baumel (Prodrive Hunter) – No. 200- Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – No. 201- Peterhansel/Boulanger (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) – No. 202- Loeb/Lurquin (200). Prodrive Hunter) – No. 203- Sainz/Cruz (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) – No. 204- Yacopini/Oliveiras (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – No. 205- Moraes/Monleon (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) – No 206- Ekström/Bergkvist (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) – No. 207- De Villiers/Murphy (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) – No. 209- Roma/Bravo (Ford Ranger) – No. 210- Chicherit/Winocq ( Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – No. 211- Quintero/Zenz (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) – No. 216- De Mevius/Panseri (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – No. 221- Baumgart/Cincea (Prodrive Hunter) – No
– Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) – n°1- Toby Price (KTM) – n°2- Sam Sunderland (GASGAS) – n°4- Daniel Sanders (GASGAS) – n°5- Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) – n°7 – Ricky Brabec (Honda) – n°9- Skyler Howes (Honda) – n°10- Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (Honda) – n°11- Romain Dumontier (Husqvarna) – n°16- Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) – #42- Ross Branch (Hero) – #46- Kevin Benavides (KTM) – #47- Tosha Schareina (Honda) – #73- Joan Barredo (Hero) – #88
There are changes in 2024. A privileged partner of the rally from the start, France Télévisions will no longer be the main broadcaster of the race this year. Only the Journal du Dakar will be offered each evening to viewers of the public service channel around 8:50 p.m. This 46th edition marks the arrival of the Dakar on the L’Equipe Channel. Broadcast unencrypted on TNT, on channel 21, the channel of the major sports daily will cover the race in detail.
The big live show will allow you to see the arrival of the main competitors every day between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. with several journalists and consultants on site to collect the participants’ first reactions. It will also be possible to watch the channel’s Dakar Journal from 6:20 p.m. while the summary of each stage will be broadcast at 8 p.m. For those who weren’t able to watch, the highlights of each stage will be rebroadcast each following day from 11am. Note that the Eurosport group, via its channels 1 and 2, will always follow the race, with a summary of around fifty minutes each day at 8 p.m., 11:30 p.m. or the next morning at 8 a.m.
