Sébastien Loeb (car) and Adrien Van Beveren (motorcycle) took back time from all their rivals during the 9th stage of the Dakar 2024. Respectively 2nd and 3rd overall, the French can still believe in final victory even if the leaders Carlos Sainz and Ricky Brabec are not giving up.
[Updated January 16 at 12:22 p.m.] Like last Friday, at the end of the 48-hour stage without assistance, two French people tasted victory in the 2024 Dakar. And they are the same since Sébastien Loeb, in the car, and Adrien Van Beveren, on the motorbike, were the strongest over the 417 kilometers of special to be covered between Hail and Al Ula, in the north-west of Saudi Arabia. This is already the fourth success for the Alsatian obtained in this 46th edition of the rally, the second for the Northerner. The latter, a little slower in pure speed than the leader of the general classification Ricky Brabec, once again very impressive on the handlebars of his Honda, took advantage of opening the road to glean some five minutes of bonuses which made the difference to the arrival.
If he only gained 42 seconds on the American, second today and more favorite than ever to succeed Kévin Benavides on the list of winners, Adrien Van Beveren took seven minutes from Ross Branch and ten from Jose Ignaco Cornejo. A gain in time which allows the Habs to slot themselves between the Botswanan and the Chilean in third place in the general classification, a little over 11 minutes behind Ricky Brabec. He will still have to attack during the last three stages to hope to triumph on Friday at Yanbu.
Sébastien Loeb has been practicing this all-out attack for several days. On Tuesday, the Frenchman had more success than the day before when a small navigation error at the end of the course cost him several minutes. Fully on the floor at the wheel of his Prodrive Hunter buggy, the Haguenovian was ahead in all scores. Unfortunately for him, Carlos Sainz, the only one ahead of him in the general classification, has made no mistakes since the start of the race. The experienced Spaniard has so far evaded all the traps with his Audi and has only lost a little over four minutes during this ninth stage.
The Madrilenian, three-time winner of the rally (2010, 2018, 2020), thus maintains a fairly comfortable 20-minute cushion over Sébastien Loeb while there are only a thousand kilometers of special spread over the last three days. Barring a mechanical problem with Carlos Sainz’s car, the Frenchman will have difficulty catching up. Unless his rival and no less friend makes a mistake between now and Friday.
1. (=) Sainz/Cruz (Audi) in 37h50’57″2. (=) Loeb/Lurquin (Prodrive Hunter) at 20’33″3. (=) Moraes/Monleon (Toyota) at 1h12’02″4. (=) De Mevius/Panseri (Toyota) at 1h39’56″5. (=) De Villiers/Murphy (Toyota) at 2h00’12″6. ( 2) Serradori/Minaudier (Century) at 2h03’44″7. (-1) Chicherit/Winocq (Toyota) at 2h12’43″8. (-1) Prokop/Chytka (Ford) at 2h12’48″9. (=) Botterill/Cummigs (Toyota) at 2h29’51″10. (=) Vanagas/Sikk (Toyota) at 2h59’35″………..13. ( 3) Peterhansel/Boulanger (Audi) at 3h59’46″18. ( 2) Ekström/Bergkvist (Audi) at 4h54’01”
1. (=) Ricky Brabec (USA/Honda) in 40h53’49″2. (=) Ross Branch (BWA/Hero) at 7’09″3. (1) Adrien Van Beveren (FRA/Honda) at 11’16″4. (-1) Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (CHI/Honda) at 13’46″5. (=) Kévin Benavides (ARG/KTM) at 28’02″6. (=) Toby Price (AUS/KTM) at 35’12″7. (1) Luciano Benavides (ARG/Husqvarna) at 49’09″8. (-1) Daniel Sanders (AUS/GASGAS) at 59’47″9. (=) Stefan Svitko (SVQ/KTM) at 1h23’49″10. (=) Martin Michek (RTC/KTM) at 2h20’35″………..17. (2) Pablo Quintanilla (CHI/Honda) at 4h52’45”
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. Please 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.
