Dakar: The favorites have problems, Sainz’s lead is melting

The day before we suggested that the closer we get to the finish of the Dakar, the more the favorites will take risks, which makes sense, because the stakes are very high and it depends on your luck. In the 10th stage of today’s rally stage, Sebastien Loeb had better luck, although he only showed the 16th fastest time. However, for the driver of the Bahrain Raid Extreme team, racing the Prodrive Hunter off-road prototype, this is not yet the worst result on the 2024 stages.

But Carlos Sainz, who is still in the lead in the general classification, reached the finish completely outside the second ten – the Audi Sport crew, race number 204, finished on the 22nd line of the Wednesday protocol. Therefore, Loeb reduced the gap with the famous Spaniard to 13 minutes and 22 seconds. Let us remind you that Sainz’s lead was more than 20 minutes yesterday, and if things continue like this, then… In general, you understand.

On the other hand, it will be all the more interesting to follow the events of the two remaining stages of the supermarathon, which ends on Friday in the city of Yanbu.

Today the Ferrari driver’s father mainly suffered from flat tires – Carlos Sainz’s electric Audi Audi even ran out of spare wheels, but fortunately he was rescued by his partner Mattias Ekström, who no longer claims to win the rally. Loeb also had flat tires.

It’s also worth adding that recent favorite Nasser Al-Attiyah eventually dropped out of contention – he couldn’t reach the start of the stage today. The technical problems with his Prodrive Hunter that the Qatari rider had suffered in recent days turned out to be too serious. For him, this is already the seventh rally in the twenty Dakars in which he participated.

As a result, Loeb’s compatriot Guerlain Chichery, best known for winning four world championships in freeride, one of the alpine skiing disciplines, won in the Ultimate category on the 10th stage. But more than twenty years ago he started participating first in rallies and then in rally raids, and this Dakar is already his 13th.

Today Chicheri took his first stage win this year, and in the general classification the French driver, racing in a Toyota Hilux, rounds out the top five. At the same time, he is even behind his Overdrive Racing teammate, the Belgian Guillaume de Mevius, who occupies 4th place, more than 20 minutes behind, but his direct rivals are literally on his heels, that is, it is not a fact that he will can maintain this position.

Be that as it may, Guerlain was fastest today and second place on the podium was taken by the South African team of Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Kremer, driving a Century CR7-T all-wheel drive prototype, also built in South Africa . So far this duo has not risen above 11th place on the stage.

The crew of experienced Lithuanian racer Benediktas Vanagas finished third, while Estonian Kuldar Sikk performed co-driver duties: they drive a Toyota Hulux and represent the Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics team. For them, this is also the best result in the stages of the 2024 rally raid, which they were of course able to show in the absence of the favorites. However, in the overall standings they occupy a respectable 10th place and if they maintain this, it will be Vanagas’ best result over the years of his Dakar appearances. This is already his 12th super marathon.

11th place in the SUV class is occupied by the Russian duo Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov, but their lead over the top ten is almost 45 minutes. it’s almost impossible to win it back in the remaining two stages. Unless one of the teams occupying higher positions resigns, which cannot be ruled out either.

Among motorcyclists, the fifth victory in the stage of this rally was achieved by the American Ricky Brabec, who won the Dakar in 2020. He is the leader in the two-wheeler class with a lead of almost 11 minutes and is on the verge of repeating his performance of four years ago.

Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo, Brabec’s teammate in the Honda factory team, occupies 4th place in class and is almost 14 minutes behind him after ten stages, but in today’s stage he finished second, losing only a few seconds to it.

In the ATV class there is a tense battle between the Argentinian Manuel Andujar and the Frenchman Alexandre Giraud – we can say that they are “exchanging blows”, as Giraud won the stage yesterday and his opponent finished second. But on Monday it was the other way around: the Argentinian won in the 8th stage, while the opponent showed the second result. Today Andujar was in the lead again, and he also leads the general classification with a lead of almost 9 minutes.

In the Challenger category, success was achieved by the Brazilian duo, who had not shown results before: two days ago Marcelo Tilla Gastaldi finished 7th, and this was his best result in the stages. But today he and his co-driver Carlos Sachs finished one and a half minutes ahead of the Argentinian Nicolas Cavigliasso, the winner of yesterday’s stage.

Both teams drive lightweight Dutch-made Taurus T3 Max SUVs, but neither one nor the other claims victory in the class, where American Mitchell Guthrie, driving the same car, is still in the lead.

In the SSV category, the best time on the podium was set by a lady – the American Dakar debutant Sarah Price, known to us from the off-road series Extreme E. Also in this class, also called ‘all-terrain’, she comes second. vehicles”, which is a more than worthy result for the first time. Twenty and a half minutes later, Sarah loses to Xavier de Soltre, the driver of Sébastien Loeb’s team, but she may have an advantage over the Swiss Jerome de Sadleir, who also takes part in the endurance races, but that is another story.

In the freight category, the image is reminiscent of yesterday, namely: The stage was won again by Geert Husinck’s Dutch team. He drives a Renault C460 with a hybrid power plant, which has been prepared for the Dakar by the Czech company MKR.

And second at the finish was again the Czech trio Martin Masik, who are more than confident in the lead in this class, and there is little that can stop their victory in the rally. Moreover, since Crew No. 601’s lead is more than two hours, there is absolutely no need for him to take any risks.

Unlike the aforementioned Carlos Sainz and Sebastien Loeb, who have to take risks as the Spaniard aims for his fourth Dakar win, and his opponent is keen to add success in the legendary rally run to his nine WRC championship titles. In addition, all participants will have to conquer more than 500 km tomorrow, of which 420 km will be high-speed sections, and the route will mainly pass through terrain strewn with stones of different sizes.

Accordingly, the probability of the wheel breaking is very high, but when the stakes are as high as possible, there is nothing to escape from, you have to go all in. The outcome of tomorrow’s stage will largely determine who will win the coveted Touareg statue in 2024.