Dakar Rally 2024

[Vader]

Is anyone else following the Dakar Rally?

Having long since left Africa, due to the threat of terrorism, the Dakar now races through the rocks & sands of Saudi Arabia (yet another case of sports-washing by the oil rich kingdom).

Daily Highlights packages are shown at 5pm on SBS. Due to time zone differences, we get the highlights the following day (i.e. today's highlights will show yesterday's racing).

This year is a real changing of the guard, with many of the "old guard" drivers & riders having either retired, crashed out, or falling off the pace.

In the cars, "Mr Dakar" Stephane Peterhansel is MIA for the first time since 1995. Former winners Carlos Sainz Snr & Ginel de Villiers have crashed out, as has Sebastien Loeb (who seems destined never to win the Dakar). Past contenders such as Nani Roma and Martin Prokop are well off the pace. Four time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah is one of only 2 "Dakar Legends" inside the top-10, and he's 30+ min behind the leader, having failed to win a single stage this year.

In their stead we have rising youngsters Seth Quintero, Rokas Baciuska, Yazeed Al-Raji and Henk Lategan winning stages, with Lategan & Al-Raji currently sitting in 1st and 2nd.

It's a similar story in the bikes, where former 2-time winners Toby Price & Sam Sunderland were sacked by KTM (switching to the cars as a result), while perennial underachiever Juan "Bang Bang" Barreda is MIA completely. Another KTM 2-time winner, Kevin Benavides, pulled the plug mid-race, having struggled with the pace, coming into the race only partially fit due to an injury suffered last May. Only 4 of the top-10 are Dakar Legends, the best of whom (Adrien Van Beveren) sits in 3rd, 20+ min behind the leader.

Instead, the race is being led by Australian Daniel Sanders, who has won 5 stages, including every stage where he wasn't opening the road.

The Trucks are much more competitive too these days, with the previously dominant blue Kamaz wagons excluded due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Martin Macik leads the category by 2 1/2 hours, but Mitchel Van den Brink and Ales Loprais have also posted stage wins - Van den Brink led the early stages, before mechanical problems saw him fall back to 2nd.

 

[Vader]

For the record, a Dakar Legend is a competitor who has participated in 10+ Dakar rallies.

Live tracking for the competitors is available here: https://www.dakar.live.worldrallyraidchampionship.com/en/bike/

The first riders in the Bike category have just gone through the checkpoint at 123 (of 357) km. Sanders was the fastest rider at the 2nd checkpoint (after 81 km), and is due through the 3rd checkpoint shortly.

The cars start later, and none of them have yet reached the first checkpoint at 37 km.

 

[FR0GGY]

Keep an eye on it from the distance, interest has dropped with Price dropping out.
Have had two mates compete (and finish) on quads about 8 years ago.
Insane the cost and effort it takes by all.

 

[Vader]

Keep an eye on it from the distance, interest has dropped with Price dropping out.
Have had two mates compete (and finish) on quads about 8 years ago.
Insane the cost and effort it takes by all.

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any quads category this year. Several former quad riders are now racing in the Challenger & SSV categories instead.

Like you, I was interested to see how Price & Sunderland would go in the cars category. They were going OK for a while, but it didn't last.

At least we have Daniel Sanders carrying the flag, currently leading the bikes by around 15 minutes.

 

[FR0GGY]

Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be any quads category this year. Several former quad riders are now racing in the Challenger & SSV categories instead.

Like you, I was interested to see how Price & Sunderland would go in the cars category. They were going OK for a while, but it didn't last.

At least we have Daniel Sanders carrying the flag, currently leading the bikes by around 15 minutes.

With age comes a cage!
Honestly surprised KTM dropped price, he was still very much in contention each year.
Think they didn’t like him getting more into cars and focusing less time on the bike.

 

[Vader]

With age comes a cage!
Honestly surprised KTM dropped price, he was still very much in contention each year.
Think they didn’t like him getting more into cars and focusing less time on the bike.

Possibly. I think they just thought they had better, younger, talent coming through with Sanders & the Benavides brothers.

Toby hadn't performed at the Dakar for several years.

Then again, they could have gone with more drivers - Honda had 5 factory riders on the start line, KTM only had 3 (plus Canet in Rally 2).

 

[FR0GGY]

Possibly. I think they just thought they had better, younger, talent coming through with Sanders & the Benavides brothers.

Toby hadn't performed at the Dakar for several years.

Then again, they could have gone with more drivers - Honda had 5 factory riders on the start line, KTM only had 3 (plus Canet in Rally 2).

2nd in 2023 is very much still in contention

 

[Vader]

2nd in 2023 is very much still in contention

True... though that was his only decent result in several years.

 

[FR0GGY]

True... though that was his only decent result in several years.

I think through bad luck rather than speed.

 

[Vader]

I think through bad luck rather than speed.

He had a good run from 2015-2020, where he won the race twice, finished 3rd three times, and only had 1 DNF.

Since then his record is DNF, 10th, 2nd, 5th, and DNF (2025 in a car).

More to the point, KTM won the Dakar every year from 2001-2019. Since then, they've only won it once, with Kevin Benavides. KTM were determined to re-establish their previous dominance over the race, and they clearly didn't see Price & Sunderland as being capable of doing that.

The interesting thing is that none of the other factory teams were interested in signing him, after KTM refused to renew his contract.

 

[FR0GGY]

He had a good run from 2015-2020, where he won the race twice, finished 3rd three times, and only had 1 DNF.

Since then his record is DNF, 10th, 2nd, 5th, and DNF (2025 in a car).

More to the point, KTM won the Dakar every year from 2001-2019. Since then, they've only won it once, with Kevin Benavides. KTM were determined to re-establish their previous dominance over the race, and they clearly didn't see Price & Sunderland as being capable of doing that.

The interesting thing is that none of the other factory teams were interested in signing him, after KTM refused to renew his contract.

I suspect Toby was quite happy to transition to cars (has been for awhile) teams probably knew they wouldn’t have him for long.
Very happy if sanders takes over from him!

 

[Vader]

I suspect Toby was quite happy to transition to cars (has been for awhile) teams probably knew they wouldn’t have him for long.
Very happy if sanders takes over from him!

He indicated as much in a Portrait interview, on one of the early stages of the race. He said something along the lines of cars being less likely to result in injury to the drivers.

Personally, I think it was very much a case of painting lipstick on a pig. I think he really wanted to be out there on a bike again, but had to put a positive spin on his sacking and subsequent switch to the cars.

You may also have a point about other teams not wanting him if they wouldn't have him for long. Once again, this goes towards my original comments about 2025 being a "changing of the guard" race.

 

[Vader]

It will be interesting to see how Price/Sunderland fare in the cars. It obviously didn't work out for them in 2025, but who knows what the future will hold.

There are certainly examples of bike winners, who subsequently transitioned successfully to the cars, and went on to win again. It's impossible to go past Stephane Peterhansel, who won 6 times on a bike and 8 times in a car - and holds the record for most wins on both bikes & cars. Nani Roma has also won on both bikes & cars.

Then again, there are other riders who were unable to make the transition successfully - Cyril Despres won the race 5 times on a bike, but mostly failed when he switched to cars.

 

[FR0GGY]

He indicated as much in a Portrait interview, on one of the early stages of the race. He said something along the lines of cars being less likely to result in injury to the drivers.

Personally, I think it was very much a case of painting lipstick on a pig. I think he really wanted to be out there on a bike again, but had to put a positive spin on his sacking and subsequent switch to the cars.

You may also have a point about other teams not wanting him if they wouldn't have him for long. Once again, this goes towards my original comments about 2025 being a "changing of the guard" race.

He’s chosen to do Finke in a car rather than a bike for the last 5 years.
He’s 100% been angling for cars for a long time.
Now whether he got sacked due to results or KTM not thinking his heart was in it, we can’t be 100% sure.
Either way I bet he would have only done bikes for a year or so if he wasn’t sacked.