110 replies to this topic

[Alex79]

Good afternoon, offroaders and onlookers. First allow me to wish all a happy new year. Normally the Dakar Rally ft Saudi Arabia was already up and running, but this year the start is a few days later, coming friday 5th of January. Last year the start was in the specially constructed Sea Camp near Yanbu, this year that place will be the finish of the rally. Start takes place in Al Ula, after which come 5 stages to the South East coast .There in Shubaytah follows a 48h loop through the empty quarter, after which the remaining crews get a rest day in Riyadh. Second week takes them back to Al Ula, where a loop stage around Al Ula, a stage to Yanbu sea camp and the final loop will take place on the 18th of January

 

 

- In the cars Nasser Al Attiyah has switched from Toyota to Prodrive, to be the teammate of last year rival Sebastian Loeb. Both will however switch to Dacia/Renault next year together with Cristina Gutierrez. As there were two Renault Dusters in the South American dakars, I wonder if this is a case of refurbishing the existing model, or starting from scratch.

- Also Prodive sold three Jag buggies to the Chinese YunXiang China outfit, headed by Sun Ping, who won the Taklha Makan rally in a 2023 model

- Toyota splits their cars between Overdrive Racing and Gazoo Racing. De Villiers and Yacopini start for the Gazoo outfit, joined by South Africans Guy Botterill and Saoud Variawa. Yazid Al Rahji, Guillaume de Mevius and Lucas Moraes for Overdrive. Also switching to an Overdrive supported Toyota is Seth Quintero, coming up from the SSV's

- Century delivers a few 2WD buggys this year for private entries like Tom and Tim Coronel, but they also developed a new 4WD car for Brian Baragwanath and Matthieu Serradori

- Audi has the same entries as last year (Sainz, Peterhansel, Ekström) and an upgraded electric E-tron. Will it be their last as the F1 entry looms in 2026?

- After a forced pause last year for cancer treatment, Nani Roma is back again, driving a Ford Ranger

 

- In the bikes the succes of BAS Dakar and HT rally last year lead to a round of poaching. Skyler Howes switches to Honda, Mason Klein started his own team Klein Offroad Racing, using a Chinese KOVE 450cc bike provided by KOVE rally, who field a team of former HT rider Niels Theric and countryman Xavier Flick plus Chinese riders Fang Xiangliang and Sunier Sunier

- Honda fields now 5 bikes to aid Luciano Benavides, who became W2RC champion, apart from Howes, Ricky Brabec, Nacho Cornejo and Pablo Quintanilla also return

- Bas dakar retains the services of Bradley Cox, new arrivals are Paolo Lucci, and former US army officer Kyle McCoy, debuting last year in Arabia with the amateurs of America Originals. HT Rally found nine privateers : three from Belgium (Pierre Saes, Gwenn Backx and Jasper Van Dijk), two from Africa (Ash Thixton and Ciaran Moore), two from America (Wes Carr and Fabian von Thuengen) one from Mongolia (Ganzorig Chuluun) and one from Albania (Ardit Kurtaj)

- Hero fields three familiar names in their bike team. Joaquim Rodrigues, Sebastian Bühler and Ross "Kalahari Ferrari" Branch

- Big disappointment for KTM, as Mathias Walkner will not compete in this years dakar after a crash in which he sustained multiple fractures in his leg. Kevin Benavides will defend his title, aided by Toby Price and on the GasGas themed bikes we have Daniel Sanders and Sam Sunderland again.

 

- A definitive switch is the further reduced field of quad riders (only 10 as of now) and more than 70 T3 buggies. 44 will start in the Challenger class, the rest is qualified as SSV class.

- The challenger class will be really fun this as it mixes together all the participants of last years T3 and Proto categories, minus Quintero who switched into the cars. Meaning the Goczal clan (Father Marek, brother Michal and son Erik) battle against Red Bulls Austin Jones, Cristina Gutierrez, Chaleco Lopez and Rokus Baciuska. Outsider is the yamaha X Raid team fielding Ignacio Casala, Ricardo Porem, Annett Quandt and Ahmed Alkuwari Fahad

Also a last minute addition seems to be my favorite underdog Ulsterman Kris Meeke, who takes over an Overdrive Buggy from Kees Koolen. His codriver is none other than Dutch veteran Wouter Roosegaar, who pulled off a few T3 miracles already with Meeke in 2021 and with Sebastian Eriksson in 2022

 

- In the trucks the battle Czech versus the Netherlands continues. The rally du Maroc was supposed to be an appetizer in october for the crews around Janus van Kasteren (Boss Iveco) and Martin Macik (MM Technology) Macik was poised to win the Rally but was disqualified on the last day. On the same day defending dakar winner Janus van Kasteren crashed out, leaving a surpised Michel Becx (debuting for Iveco) and an even more stunned Gerrit Zuurmond in his old MAN to pick up 1st and 2nd. Now Van Kasteren and Macik are looking for a bit of redemption in Arabia.

- Whereas father and son Martin and Mitchell vd Brink drive the same De Rooy Iveco trucks as Van Kasteren, Becx and fast asisstent Vick Versteijnen, they are now their own team. Richard de Groot and his firemen return again in an MM provided truck.

- Tatra's official team Buggyra was supposed to start the familiar names of Jaroslav Valtr and Martin Soltys. But it appears Soltys was injured a week ago and Buggyra teamleader Martin Koloç called up former Renault driver Pascal de Baar, who was out of a job when Gert Huzink reverted to a one truck team for himself. De Baar called up his old navigator Giso Verschoor as well

- De Rooy also provides a truck to the Dakar Ladies. Anja van Loon competed last year in the SSV and switched to drive something much bigger. She is joined by navigator Marije van Ettekoven and mechanic Floor Maten

- Also back is Ales Loprais in his Praga , after an accident in which a spectator got himself killed forced him to drop out and have a think about his career (his own words). He did a few smaller events and decided to start again this year. Tatra also supports a Jamal entered by team Fesh Fesh for Vaidotas Paskevicius, the truck even has one of MKR's Renault engines. Albert Llovera still uses the ill fated Ford Cargo, that Fesh Fesh had last year, hopefully it comes further than stage 1 this edition

Edited by Alex79, 02 January 2024 - 15:31.

[loki]

Since they moved to KSA I haven’t been following as close.  Thanks for the heads up.

 

In the US MAV TV has same day coverage.  Highlights on Peacock.  Red Bull has a highlights broadcast on YouTube.  

[jonpollak]

We won’t miss a thing with Alex guiding us throughout the Dakar !!!

Jp

[paulb]

Thanks Alex! I’ve set a recording timer on YoutubeTV.

[Dolph]

Good afternoon, offroaders and onlookers.

 

[sportyskells]

At least I knew it was coming normally these cars and bikes start on New Years day

[Risil]

Trucks!!!

[thegamer23]

Can't wait to follow the live timing in the early mornings for the next two weeks! 

Rooting for Paolo Lucci in the Bikes!

 

Also, i suggest you to watch this amazing piece of cinematography and humanity, one of these nights

Following the Dakar Rally 2023 adventure of the italians in the Malle Moto class. 

Eng subtitles available

 

Edited by thegamer23, 03 January 2024 - 10:30.

[Ben1445]

Have been wondering a little - is the Audi entry the only series-hybrid competition vehicle there is? Has anyone else done it somewhere else?

I can’t help but be fond of it really. A collection of FE motors and the old DTM turbo ICE all bolted to a battery on wheels… crazy thing.

[JRodrigues]

Technically it's not an hybrid, it's a full electric vehicle (with a charger on its back). I believe there's also an hydrogen car (?) but don't know if it's fuell-cell or combustion engine.

[Ben1445]

Is it not at all capable of sending power from the ICE generator directly to the wheels (bypassing the battery) then? I could see the logic in that being technically a ‘range-extended EV’ rather than a ‘hybrid’.

I suppose definitions are weird and can often be mildly subjective things though. Perhaps I should be more specific and ask whether any other race vehicle out there is using/has used an ICE attached to a generator to drive electric motors…

[Alex79]

Technically it's not an hybrid, it's a full electric vehicle (with a charger on its back). I believe there's also an hydrogen car (?) but don't know if it's fuell-cell or combustion engine.

 

There are two trucks from Renault (Gert Huzink) and Hino (Sugawara family)  which have hybrid capacities and one MAN that has hydrogen power

I think this year they have a whole hybrid class of buggies, the M1000, in which participants have either fully electric, hybrid or hydrogen powered vehicles. Oddly they put the MAN truck in there as well

[Alex79]

Is it not at all capable of sending power from the ICE generator directly to the wheels (bypassing the battery) then? I could see the logic in that being technically a ‘range-extended EV’ rather than a ‘hybrid’.

I suppose definitions are weird and can often be mildly subjective things though. Perhaps I should be more specific and ask whether any other race vehicle out there is using/has used an ICE attached to a generator to drive electric motors…

Last year Audi had the car fully electric while using the DTM ICE as a range extender. In the beginning of the stages the car was silent, at the end it sounded like the Howling snowmobile engines of the Chaparral Car

[jonpollak]

Just checked the satellite and the program begins Friday 8pm-9pm on €urosport 2 and the same throughout the event for us here in Blighty…

I’m guessing the dreaded Carlton Kirby will commentate.
Jp

[Alan Lewis]

As this year's event approaches, three-time winner Rene Metge has passed away, aged 82:

https://en.wikipedia...wiki/René_Metge

[Brian60]

Sorry to say I've not followed the Dakar since the terrorist troubles and it moving continents. Which brings me to my post - now ISIS/ Alkaida or whomever are no longer the threat they were, why not move back to Dakar? Most likely the answer is money, the Saudis offering more up front dosh than could be leveraged out of other hosts.

[Alan Lewis]

The Sahel is nowhere near politically stable. The government of Niger was overthrown just last July, becoming one of several countries in the region with military juntas in control, many of which are sympathetic to Russia and China rather than the West. Islamic extremist groups are also widely active.

[skinnyman]

Al-Attiyah:

 

Audi? I give them just three days and they will go home, you saw it in Morocco and Aragon after a hundred kilometres
...
If you look at the history of Toyota, we had more than fifteen cars in every edition and all of them had setbacks, except for mine. That's my secret, I can't tell you, I need to keep it because it's very important to treat your car, to have a good position and speed, otherwise, you will break it. 

Edited by skinnyman, 03 January 2024 - 15:10.

[skinnyman]

So Al-Attiyah DNF and Audi 1-2-3 it is.

Edited by skinnyman, 03 January 2024 - 15:11.

[Alex79]

Audi broke their cars last year because they drove way too reckless without regarding the extra weight for the batteries. If they did not learn from that it's gonna happen again. And it's true Al Attiyah always chooses his battles carefully, he only attacks when he needs to.

Edited by Alex79, 03 January 2024 - 15:15.

[loki]

Sorry to say I've not followed the Dakar since the terrorist troubles and it moving continents. Which brings me to my post - now ISIS/ Alkaida or whomever are no longer the threat they were, why not move back to Dakar? Most likely the answer is money, the Saudis offering more up front dosh than could be leveraged out of other hosts.

Mauritania is the issue.  It’s still dicey over there.   Even if it were safe I wouldn't expect a return due to the KSA sportwashing money being thrown at them.

[Risil]

I miss Robby Gordon!

[William Hunt]

Traditionally the Dakar always used to start on the 1st of January, well not anymore it seems

[thegamer23]

Welcoming ceremony in 10 minutes

 

[loki]

I miss Robby Gordon!

He’s been busy getting his Speed UTV brand off the ground.  It came out last Feb after a few year ramp up after interrupted by the pandemic.  A fair amount of the parts are from Asia with the rest from and assembled in Mexico.  There is an engine issue in the 400 that have been shipped so far.  I’d look for at least Max to be in one in T3 in a couple years when he turns 18.

Edited by loki, 04 January 2024 - 18:19.

[paulb]

Starting podium underway, live on youtube. Trucks now.

Edited by paulb, 05 January 2024 - 14:55.

[paulb]

I miss Robby Gordon!

Robby was (is) nutz. 

[Alex79]

As usual, the Dakar starts with a small appetizer, 27km in length. Not much to gain then, but much too lose when you're overzealous. Something like that happened to Skyler Howes in the bikes.... again. Because the first real test Howes had for Honda was the Rally du Maroc in October, where he promptly crashed on the first stage. And alas it happened again in the loop around Al Ula. The American did continue and finished, but he was a lowly 42nd at the finish. His teammate Tosha Schareina was at the other end of the spectrum. Last year the Spaniard with German roots rode an Aspar funded KTM and impressed Honda enough for them to offer him a bike this year. Schareina was quickest at the line 12 secs before Daniel Sanders (GasGas) and Ross Branch (Hero). Mason Klein put the Chinese KOVE bike in a respectable 10th place, just behind Kevin Benavides KTM, both lost a minute on Schareina. I totally missed Joan Barreda is also partipating for Hero this year, Bang bang came home 15th for now 1m25s behind

 

In the cars Audi repeated their last years prologue win. Mattias Ekström was 23 secs quicker than car debutant Seth Quintero who put his Toyota on 2nd place just before 3 Prodrive buggies. Sebastien Loeb drove to 3rd place before the Baumgart Brothers, who have privately entered buggies. Marcos Baumgart ended up in 4th, Cristian Baumgart in 5th. Returning driver Kristoph Holowczyc put in the same time as Cristian, 44 secs behind Ekström. Al Attiyah had a mixed start, as Matthieu Baumel made a small error in navigation which cost the Qatari one minute, ending up 12th just behind Guirlain Chicherit, who made the same mistake. Tom and Tim Coronel were home in the back of the field, 55th and 5 minutes behind.

 

The Challenger SSV, formerly the Proto class, were long dominated by Canam, sometimes with a lonely Overdrive or Arcane buggy nipping in. But the main weapon of choice for today at least was the Dutch built Taurus T3 by Wevers Sport. 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 8th in the classification. Eryk Goczal beat his uncle Michal Goczal by 20 secs, Kris Meeke and Wouter Rosegaar made a very good return in the Overdrive buggy, 3rd on 21 secs, somewhat in front of Cavigliasso and Guthrie. Rokas Baciuska stayed on at CanAm, he came home 9th, Austin Jones had a small mishap and lost almost 2m50s, even the 'Mclaren' buggy of Lukas Lauda was quicker. Paul Spierings arrived back 15th, Gerrit vd Valk (who bought Hans Weijs' updated Arcane buggy) was 24th

 

 

In the trucks the battle of the Iveco's commenced again, although the Tatra's tried to chip in as well. Janus van Kasteren started first and finished first in the De Rooy Iveco, 16 secs faster than the Praga truck of Ales Loprais. Mitchell vd Brink claimed the 3rd place, narrowly beating the older Tatra Phoenix of Jaroslav Valtr and Pascal de Baar's brand new "rental" Tatra Evo in 4th and 5th. Martin Maçik started 2nd, but lost 1m16s and came home in sixth. The dakar ladies team of Anja van Loon finished 16th almost 4 minutes behind van Kasteren.

 

Tomorrow a first real test awaits en route to Al Henakiyah, 414 km's of special, with a climb to 1700 metres halfway. The starting 'grid' is a bit different from other years. In the bikes the worst of the Rally GP riders (Howes) has to start first and map out the road, only luck for him the infamous bonus seconds from last year are back as well, so he can gain some times on a few of these Tour de France style checkpoints

Edited by Alex79, 05 January 2024 - 18:03.

[Alex79]

The first real stage of the Dakar 2024 went past a volcanic landscape, strewn with rocks on fast stretches, rocks on technical section, but mostly rocks. The start was rocky as well, as Lionel Baud, the first car to start the special, was surprised by two people standing in his path. As a spectator remarked to RTL's Allard Kalff "the men split up when they saw him coming, but alas the driver went left". Meaning Baud hit a cameraman who had to be stabilized and flown out to hospital.

 

After that scare the start for the rest of the field was delayed, meaning the trucks would stop at 281km (CP2), for the lower part of the field would otherwise lose too much time on the last checkpoints, where darkness would set in. Prodrive told Eurosports Norbert Ockenga in shakedown that they have new BF Goodrich tyres with a special run flat feature to combat the problems the Jag buggies had last year. I regret to inform them, it did not work. Al Attiyah had two flat tyres in the first 50km and after that he was forced to take it easy and lost 25 minutes. Sebastien Loeb met a similar fate. Two tyres flat, a broken tie rod and also a lot of time lost (21 minutes). Loeb came come 18th, Al Attiyah 21st. Seth Quintero also lost more than 20 minutes with flat tyres.

 

The Audi's had a better day, well two of the three at least. Ekström started very well and drove in the lead for most of the stage, but he got a flat as well in the end, losing 15 minutes. Carlos Sainz started way behind in 34th, but drove all the way up to 2nd thanks to all the tyre problem. The Spaniard did not escape that either, he had to stop three times as well, should have been a stagewin otherwise. The only man out there not trying to win and take it easy brough it home. Guillaume de Mevius stayed in a very constant rhythm, not too fast not slow either and won with 1m44s advantage on Sainz. Giniel de Villiers parked his Toyota in 3rd spot, in front of surprises Vaidotas Zala (now on a Diesel powered Mini) and Romain Dumas in a privately entered Toyota. De Mevius also leads the standings now, and those who remember his careful run in the Proto SSV last year know he is a tough opponent to go the distance against.

 

 

 

In the bikes the Dakar website pulled a prank on me yesterday, claiming Skyler Howes was to start first today. But it was a bit different, the site editor must have thought because the first riders had first dibs on their starting lots, they will all start in the back when asked, so that the last of the RallyGP drivers, Howes, would end up first. Mason Klein saw things differently, he simply took a gamble and started first on the stage, probably after the bonus time there was to be earned. And his gamble worked, the KOVE rider scooped 6 minutes of bonus time and looked quite relaxed at the finish: "I thought I was pretty smooth out there, but I just saw the tirewalls, totally shredded". Behind Klein a lot happened. Joaquin Rodrigues crashed and dropped out with a concussion, Tosha Schareina crashed and dropped out with a broken wrist, Michael Docherty shortly led the stage but also crashed, dropped out with hip injuries.

 

Ross Branch had stopped to help Rodrigues, losing 25 minutes, but Kalahari Ferrari got that time back after the finish. Meaning, he won Hero another stage today. Bittersweet amidst Rodrigues crashing out though. Klein's "easy ride" got him 3rd place in the end, 11 minutes behind Branch. Ricky Brabec slipped in as second, losing 10 minutes to the Botswanian. Bradley Cox also had a good day, the BAS Dakar rider lost time in the first sectors, but in the more technical closing part he took back a lot of time and clocked a 4th time. As a lot of the favorites (Price, Sanders, Sunderland, the Benavides Brothers) lost 15 minutes or more, Branch is now leading comfortably ahead of Brabec and Klein, Kevin Benavides is only 8th now, just before Sanders. For Howes a good standing is looking far away, he again finished outside top20 and has already 45 minutes to make up.

 

In the Challenger SSV the Goczal family rules again. Eryk Goczal won his second stage, despite his uncle Michal overcoming a slow start and just come 19 secs short at the finish. Marek Goczal got home in 3rd. Austin Jones looked to be in the hunt for the stage win as well, but in the last part he lost 10 minutes to the Goczal clan. Paul Spierings surprised a few of the factory CanAm's by finishing in front of them in 11th. Both David Zille and Rokus Baciuska were slower.

 

In the trucks last year we had Adwin Hoondert, classified as an assistance truck, having to start at the back every day, herding SSV and scaring the living daylights out of them when he blew past. Well, something like happened on a climb around a vulcano today. About 20 trucks were grumbling behind the slower SSV's who could not be passed on the narrow course, which made for some frustrated truckers. Janus van Kasteren had not much problems with that, he won another stage today. "We could have gone further, but when ASO says it ends here, it ends." Gert Huzink drove to 2nd place in the Hybrid Renault, seven minutes behind Van Kasteren. The Czechs Valtr and Loprais came home 3rd and  4th, "The open Czech Dutch offroad Championships are on" joked Loprais. Martin Maçik had problems again, a flat tyre costing 20 minutes to replace. That got him an 8th place behind Mitchell vd Brink and Michiel Becx.

 

 

Tomorrow stage 2 leads to Al Duwadimi on 460km of special stage. The first part is technical with a lot of dunes, but two thirds of the stage are flat and fast. Lots of time to gain, but don't get reckless!

Edited by Alex79, 06 January 2024 - 20:28.

[Risil]

Nice. That's Nasser Al-Attiyah's jinx paying off early then. Or perhaps not. 25 minutes is recoverable.

[OvDrone]

It's Sunday and I can finally chill out and really sit down and read Alex's excellent top-tier reporting. LOVE following the Dakar here, thank you Alex!

The bikes are so all over the place at the moment. Cheers to Branch so far and sh** luck for Rodrigues, Schareina and Docherty. 

I am not even really bothering with Loeb or even Al-Attiyah in those Prodrive Hunters. Waiting for them to start with Dacia next year. So rooting for Sainz and Ekstrom!

[Henri Greuter]

Way off topic with the current Dakar but still Dakar related to some extend.

 

Many people have suggestions of battles and/or duels that never happened due to something happening with one of the contestents, retirement, withdrawal, or tragedy.

 

For me, the Dakar history is missing a battle that could have been one of the best ever between two manufacturers which built two of the most spectacular cars ever.

 

Porsche had won the 1986 Dakar with their final version of the 959 in Desert trim

Had they entered one more year, they would have gone up against the first versions of Peugeot 205 Turbo16 Grand Raid when that team made its debut.

 

Just think about what kind of battle that would have been:  959 vs 205 T16GR

I still regret we never got to see that one and/or can look back on it

[Alex79]

Today Allard Kalff had Fabian Lurquin (Sebastien Loeb's navigator) explain the proceedings for acquiring roadbooks. In the old days, you just got a roll of paper or a booklet before the start. Now you get a tablet (in the cars, trucks and buggies), that switches on automatically when the designated vehicle arrives in the starting zone. They also wanted this approach for the bikes, but the top riders insisted on still using paper roadbooks as they are easier to read while riding. Most of the amateurs do carry tablets now.

The stage today went from bad to worse for some competitors. First one to "come a cropper" was Mason Klein, who stopped with a broken oil line and lost two and a half hours on repairs. For Lorenzo Santolino it was worse, his Sherco quit after just 17 km and had to be brought back to bivouaq, either he starts again with 24h time penalty or he's done. Ross Branch had to open the stage and as he missed Der Neualgischen Punkt (a nasty waypoint that throws a lot of people off) he was caught by Ricky Brabec, Bradley Cox and Nacho Cornejo. At a tankstop Brabec joked he wanted "Junior" (meaning Bradley) to take the lead on navigation, but Alfie Cox' son quipped back he wanted to learn from the veterans. As Cornejo started farthest back of the four, he made up the most time and won the stage. Kevin Benavides lost a chunk of time on Der Neuralgischen Punkt and lost 20 minutes, while brother Luciano climbed to 2nd, taking Pablo Quintanilla and Sebastian Bühler along to 3rd and 4th. Branch clocked a time outside of top10 (11th), but the Botswanian still has 3 minutes lead on L.Benavides and 7 minutes on Ricky Brabec because of the bonus time he picked up. Cox got into trouble in the closing stages of the day, losing 35 minutes in the process



In the cars Guillaume de Mevius opened the route and quickly got into navigational troubles, losing half an hour in the process. Al Attiyah tried to make a comeback from 24th and was second for while, but had to stop when a suspension arm broke. They seem to have trained for that, because the Qatari claimed it only costed them 5 minutes to fix. They fell back to fifth place but are now 7th overall with 12 minutes to make up. Sebastien Loeb had a much better day, making up a lot of time on the faster stretches in the second half of the stage, coming in 2nd just before Seth Quintero. The American did not drive that fast, but codriver Dennis Zenz has the uncanny ability of making no mistakes when under pressure, quite useful today. Loeb and Quintero climb up to 3rd and 4th in the standings, behind Yazid Al Rahji who is consistent enough to get second place. The new leader is Carlos Sainz, who did have his difficulties with a flat tyre, but an 8th time is enough to get in front. Stephane Peterhansel clocked the fastest time today, starting very far back, but making up a lot by following the right tracks. It is Monsieur Dakars 83rd overall stage win, he had 33 bike stage wins already, now he had his 50th car stage win.

in the challenger class The Goczal Family rules with an iron first. There was a glimmer of hope when Eryk Goczal lost 5 minutes in the opening of the stage, but the young Polish driver clawed it back and won his 3rd stage in a row. Michal Goczal again finished behind his nephew in second, but Marek was beaten to the punch by Mitch Guthrie coming in for third. Paul Spierings battled navigational errors, nagging Toyota drivers (Al Rahji was not happy being stuck behind him ) and a flat tyre to come home in 14th, he's currently 11th overall. Kris Meeke and Wouter Rosegaar have a somewhat mixed rally, losing 65 minutes yesterday and half an hour today, they're in 14th now, 90 minutes behind the Goczal clan.

In the trucks I notice a pattern with Gert Huzink, the Renault driver is fast, but always forgets caution when he has some good results. Today that pattern happened again. Huzink started 2nd behind Janus van Kasteren but fell off a dune after 30 clicks. Luck for him that his buddy "astronaut" Pascal de Baar was a few minutes behind him (the Tatra rental driver thought the desert looked like a lunar landscape). In 5 minutes the Renault was uprighted again, but reorganising everything that fell off cost another half hour. Still Huzink clocked an 8th time losing 42 minutes. For the family Vd Brink it got a lot worse. Father Martin also crashed off a dune and as his Iveco was stuck in a dunepan it took 2 hours to get out. Son Mitchell did not crash, but his truck had a total meltdown when the gearbox played up and the steering pump and coolant system gave up as well (a helicopter shot showed ominous signs of leaking fluids) It took 60 minutes to fix the truck somewhat and get to the finish in 15th. Martin arrived an hour later in a large Iveco pickup (he lost some bodypanels on the cab)

Up front the Tatra's had a good day. De Baar came in 4th after his ANWB/RAC action, Jaroslav Valtr was originally 3rd, but just has been hit with a 15 minute time penalty. Probably speeding at one of the CP's, I saw Vaidotas Paskevicius brake so hard he almost somersaulted his Tatra Jamal. Ales Loprais was in contention for a stagewin the whole day, although he never knew about it. Van Kasteren had a seven minute lead, but his tire inflating system malfunctioned in a dune section, so the Iveco driver lost a lot of time. Edit: at the finish it was only 6 seconds, but Van Kasteren keeps pace with Eryk Goczal to win his 3rd stage in a row as well. Loprais got second and is now 12 minutes behind Van Kasteren, Martin Maçik arrived in third and has half an hour to make up. Richard de Groot did manage a 9th time today despite a malfunctioning auxilary belt, so he had to drive his truck in manual mode to ease the strain. The ASO are giving the Firemen stress as well, they got slapped with a 24h time penalty as their tablet failed to register ANY waypoints yesterday. De Groot will of course appeal the decision, but as the ASO is French, they do not make mistakes, please move on, nothing to see here.



Tomorrow we have the first marathon stage of this rally. There was something disconcerting about Tom Colsoul, responsible for mapping the route this year when everyone wanted to know about the 48h marathon stage in the second week. He smiled and said "Better worry if you even get to the start of that stage." A stage of 438 km kms mixed with fast sections, rocky terrain and dunes await, plus a time limit of 2 hours repair time at the bivouac. Boy Howdy (as Walt Longmire used to say)

Edited by Alex79, 08 January 2024 - 05:57.

[Risil]

Reports that Sam Sunderland retired his GasGas bike after a serious mechanical issue.

[Risil]

Dumb Dakar question: why do the trucks have three people in the crew and the buggies only two? (Or is it simply because lorry cabs normally have room for three seats.)

[JRodrigues]

I believe the third one is the mechanic.

[WouterF1]

Dakar team issues update on driver Carles Falcon after major crash

 

On the Sunday of the Dakar Rally, Carles Falcon was involved in a big crash. He was transported to the hospital via airlift, with his team TwinTrail Racing has giving an update on his condition.

Spanish motorcycle driver Carles Falcon is in a serious but stable condition, following a big crash during the second stage of the Dakar Rally.

The crash happened 448km into the 468km test on Sunday between Al Henakiyah and Al Duwadimi.

Falcon received immediate assistance from medical crew which arrived via helicopter, before being airlifted to Al Duwadimi hospital for further treatment.

 

The team, TwinTrail Racing, has issued an update on his condition in a post on social media confirming the extent of injuries he sustained.

The post read: "Initially Carles was unconscious and without a pulse, but doctors have revived him. He has been admitted to Al Duwadimi Hospital where further tests have been conducted.

"He has been confirmed to suffer a fracture in his C2 that requires urgent surgery. Tonight he will be shifted to Riyadh Hospital. Over the next few days Carles will be kept sedated [coma] to control the development of the edema he has suffered in his head.

"Teammate Isaac Feliu will not continue in the race and has moved along with the midfield team to be able to stand by his side. As soon as we have news, we will report on their status and development.

Edited by WouterF1, 08 January 2024 - 11:12.

[Risil]

Sounds very serious. Hope he pulls through. 

[JRodrigues]

Let's hope for the best. Bike riders are put in so much danger in this rally 

[Alex79]

Dumb Dakar question: why do the trucks have three people in the crew and the buggies only two? (Or is it simply because lorry cabs normally have room for three seats.)

one driver, one navigator, one mechanic/ chief engineer. and as Pascal de Baar quotes on the Tatra YouTube: those tyres are very heavy, you need three people to change them

[Alex79]

In an older series about truck drivers called Auf Achse (meaning both "on the move" or "on the axles") Manfred Krug quips you should never cross a desert track without minding the traffic. Something like that happened twice already. Yesterday Jaroslav Valtr and Martin Macik nearly ran into each other looking for a waypoint, today the Coronel brother suddenly had to scrape biker Phillipe Gendron of their windshield. The Frenchman had taken a wrong turn looking for a waypoint together with a few other bikers and quad riders and decided to backtrack to escape time penalties. Around a blind corner Gendron ran straight into the Century buggy, breaking the windshield and some plastic bits of his KTM. He did finish, but he was very groggy. Pascal de Baar had a similar "Oh ships" moment when a Toyota pickup from a local camel herder appeared in his path, but the driver had seen him at the last moment. Jaap Blok, driving a Mitsubishi in the Classics category must have met the same camel herder later, because he reported after passing a herd of camels at walking speed, the angry herder came after him trying to ram his car off the track. Road Rage is also on display in the arabian desert.

 

The first half of the marathon stage might have given some competitors reason to go on a rampage as well. After 11 clicks it was game over for Sam Sunderland. In a normal stage he could have tried an engine change like Mason Klein did yesterday, but this is a marathon bivouac, so that's off the table. Klein himself also ran into trouble again, he stopped halfway to fix a problem and although he drove the sputtering KOVE to the finish, he was 124th, 6 hours after the first riders. For BAS Dakar it turns into a game of the ten little bikers: they had ten privateers in the race, but they lost two with Docherty first and now Kerim Fitz-Gerald as well. Even worse is the Hero team after losing Rodrigues earlier, now Sebastien Bühler crashed out when crossing a normal road. Only leader Ross Branch and Joan Barreda are left for them. Branch did do well to keep the damage to a minimum (5th time), even if he got hit with a speed penalty of one minute.

 

He wasn't the only one. Pablo Quintanilla looked like he had set the first time, but he got a 6 minute penalty. The real Road Hog was Barreda, copping a 12 minute speed penalty. Kevin Benavides was awarded the win, 11 seconds quicker than Ricky Brabec, which turned into 1m11s when Brabec ... yeah you know the Opray Meme, everybody gets a penalty!! And if it's not penaltes, it is Der Neuralgischen Punkt. Again a nasty waypoint caught out a few riders, including Luciano Benavides, Barreda, Bradley Cox and Daniel Sanders. An excellent opportunity for Skyler Howes (4th) and Adrien van Beveren (3rd) to make up time. Howes is back in the top15 but still has 41 minutes to cover. The Kalahari Ferrari hangs on: Branch still leads Nacho Cornejo by 3 minutes, Brabec is 3rd leading a trio of Honda's (Quintanilla in 4th, van Beveren in 5th)

 

 

In the cars there was an influx of Road Warrior vehicles, missing body panels, top covers, engine covers or windshields. Both Prodrive buggies again had issues with flat tyres, Loeb and Al Attiyah used two spares. The second tyre of Loeb blew up, claiming a body panel and sideskirt and probably ruining the suspension as the Frenchman came in 23rd, almost losing 30 minutes. Al Attiyah had another puncture on the last 30 clicks and came in on three wheels, a rim and a shredded rear quarter of the car. He was in second place at that point and lost 90 seconds(!) on the stage winner. Call that controlled driving or sheer luck. Mattias Ekström must have driven like a madman through the narrow paths of rocks and bushes as he totally lost the rear cover of his car, but still had a second time. Lucas Moraes started slow today, but made up a lot of time in the second part of the stage, just like Yazid Al Rahji. Both Toyota's did very very, Moraes won the stage 11 secs before Ekström, Al Rahji came in 3rd and picked up the overall lead because Carlos Sainz lost 3 minutes. Romain Dumas impressed again in his private Toyota, clocking 5th two minutes behind Moraes and climbing to 7th

 

 

In the Challengers and Trucks the eyes were on two repeat offenders. Eryk Goczal and Janus van Kasteren had won three stage in a row, could they do that again? The Polish Dakar family had their first real test as Michal Goczal ran into trouble when he first damaged his steering and then broke a wheel and rolled on a jump. He lost 1 hour 40 minutes and can forget a good overall result. Eryk was in a battle with Mitch Guthrie, but lost this time, the American claiming his first win this rally by 1m09s. Goczal was grumbling in second, father Marek came home third. Again, Five Taurus buggies in the top 5, with Gutierrez 4th and Gastaldi 5th, big succes as well for Wevers Sport in preparing this car. Kris Meeke and Wouter Rosegaar clocked in an 8th time, 15 minutes behind Guthrie. Paul Spierings was a bit further back, but thanks to the problems for Michal Goczal he rises up to ninth overall in his older CanAm model, three minutes before Goczal and Rokas Baciuska.

 

In the Trucks Van Kasteren confirmed he has no intention of backing down because it's a marathon stage: "Everytime I try to drive relaxed, I crash, so it's full speed ahead. It looked like it would have worked, but again in the dunes and on the last narrow part trouble struck. First the steering pump broke, that was fixed somehow, but Van Kasteren had to stop twice to refill liquids. In between they had a puncture and a recurring theme, they smashed their windshield on a tree, the third time Van Kasteren pulls that off in three Dakars. The worlds largest buggy trundled home in 3rd place, 16 minutes behind the winners. Pascal de Baar also had his troubles when the tyre inflation system on "his Monster" played up. "He tried to pish me off today", as his mechanic Tomas Sikola had to get out a few times and manually reduce pressure. During that he noticed a large cut in the sidewall of one tyre, so they had to replace that as well. Jaroslav Valtr had two punctures as well smashed his steering as he crashed off a dune. Very lucky not to roll completely, but "Babiska" (Grandmother) had to be driven quite carefully the last clicks. Still, with all their troubles, the Tatra's clocked in 4th (De Baar) and 7th (Valtr), overtaking Gert Huzink who again was in trouble getting stuck on a dune and finishing eight.

 

In front, Mitchell vd Brink looked on the prowl for a podium, but a navigational error and the inevitable puncture slowed him down to a 4th time, 21 minutes of the leader. That was Ales Loprais who had a good day in the Praga restmod. Everytime it gets twisty this truck wins on agility where it lacks a bit power. Martin Macik had a very slow start (also a puncture) and although he made up a lot of time in the second half, he lost 4,5 minutes on Loprais. Even better, Loprais takes over the lead for now, 3 minutes of Van Kasteren, who managed to smile for Allard Kalff's interview, but it was the smile of a shark (there was a grin, and his eyes did not.. laugh..at.. all). There will be blood....

 

 

Tomorrow, the marathon concludes en route to Al Hofuf. Although the terrain has more fast stretches, it seems the comical duo Tom Colsoul and David Castera have hidden more than navigational puzzle in the 299 km stage. Der Neualgischen Punkt will strike again.

Edited by Alex79, 08 January 2024 - 22:30.

[loki]

one driver, one navigator, one mechanic/ chief engineer. and as Pascal de Baar quotes on the Tatra YouTube: those tyres are very heavy, you need three people to change them

Or bigger Dutchmen…

 

There was a tire change on the world feed.  Took two guys just to roll it.  I didn’t see a tire lift either.  All brute force.

 

Wish the feed had more T4 and trucks.  I’m not a fan of KSA but the terrain is good for rally raid and quite scenic. 

[YamahaV10]

So this has to be the highest level off season racing event going.

 

Im curious about the lower classes.  If I was to enter in the beater class, my goal would be to come as close to finishing as possible. I would not go fast. Is this allowed ? Is taking your time allowed ? I see that as the only possible way for a beater to finish

[Frood]

That's exactly it. The amateurs aren't that bothered about placing well - it's more about the adventure, the experience, the challenge. That's not to say they aren't looking at beating the other competitors, of course, but just finishing is an achievement in itself.

Edited by Frood, 09 January 2024 - 14:35.

[Alex79]

And apart from the modern Dakar fleet, there is also the Classics category where all the historic vehicles are displayed. They drive a regularity rally instead of a time trial where it is about getting as close to the average delta time given by the organisers. Lastly there's the Mission 1000 where vehicles that are hybrid electric, hydrogen or full electric are used in a class of their own

[Alex79]

After Road Rage, the topic today was Sentinel Rage. The faster drivers can signal to slower competitors that they want to pass, because it is impossible to see each other in the dust. But as Anja van Loon noticed "I gave up on that, nobody listens to you anyway, or overtakes suddenly without signalling at all." Gerrit Zuurmond was bickering with Andre Thewessen as the latter thought his bulky MAN blocked him for half a day, some of the Toyota drivers including Romain Dumas were angry with Paul Spierings after he supposedly held them up a few time, but the cake was taken by Irish biker Oran O'Kelly, who got so angry at Dumas for blasting past him on a narrow track without warning that when he found the Frenchman stopped to fix a broken suspension arm he stopped to fly into a tirade about "using the ffing sentinel the next time, or else so help me God." I don't think Dumas was listening.

In the bikes the three most visible categories this year are RallyGP for the official manufacturers in the W2RC (like Honda, Hero and the KTM stable), the Rally2 for the privateers on either production bikes (KOVE) or semi professionals who rent a factory and have it run by privateer supporting teams like HT Rally, BAS Dakar, Orion or Duust Racing. Lastly you have the "kist-rijders" (translates to "trunk riders") of the Malle Moto who have no support and fix everything themselves. Mason Klein is in Rally2, but he must have felt like a Malle Moto as he had to bring his struggling KOVE in again from way back in the field. He did make it before dark, originally around 50th place, but as he missed both of Die Neuralgischen Punkte in this stage he was slapped with another time penalty of 45 minutes. For all his troubles Klein is stil 108th overall

The malle moto category is currently led by former skier Tobias Ebster, who was scouted by his uncle Heinz Kinigadner and placed in this category to learn the ropes. The Austrian is debuting but still fighting with Jerome Martiny and Albert Garcia for the podium in this class. Thanks to a massive penalty for missing waypoints Ebster's one hour lead has been cut down to 25 minutes. Martiny is second now, Garcia won the stage in this class today and stays third ahead of David Pabiska.



Up front Daniel Sanders is struggling. Originally working as an apple farmer he still combines work and racing, but the Dakar is Sanders' first race in many months after a crash back home broke his leg. He was racing to recuperate and make the start, but found his stamina and concentration wanting. He requested a shorter rear swingarm on the GasGas bike to cope better with the terrain, but the Aussie still has hit or miss days. Today like so many other, he recorded one missed waypoint, dropping him to 20th today. Pablo Quintanilla, Toby Price and Bradley Cox had the same issues, losing almost 20 minutes to half an hour. Ross Branch did well enough on navigation, but he was too eager in following the blistering pace of the Honda duo Brabec and Cornejo. The Kalahari Ferrari crashed twice, lost his roadbook and bent his handlebars. Still the damage was only 4 minutes. Kevin Benavides also lost some time as stage opener, but he got 3 minutes bonus time before Brabec and Cornejo caught up to him. In the end the Argentinian was third, Brabec second, Cornejo won the stage. He also got the lead by 1m15 seconds overall, Brabec is third now, 4 minutes behind. In Rally 2, the first seven bikes are within 9 minutes of each other, Cox being the biggest loser dropping almost to 20 minutes. For now Romain Dumontier leads the proceedings, before his countryman and former BAS teammate Mathieu Doveze by 11 secs. Paulo Lucci is third, one minute behind

In the cars I already mentioned Dumas breaking his suspension and getting yelled at by Irishmen, but Seth Quintero hit it worse. He was stopped with an oil leak and had to be towed back to bivouac. Same happened to Brian Baragwanath in the new Century buggy. As the second car of Urmo Mammone also crashed out the only factory spec car left is the older C6T model of Matthieu Serradori, who started slow but somehow climbed up the standings again, finishing 6th and climbing to 7th overall. Audi had a tough day as well, all the drivers struggled Peterhansel with flat tyres and Ekström missing one of Die Neuralgischen Punkte. Sainz could have won the stage by 12 minutes, but he also had a flat tyre in the closing stages and ended up 4th by five minutes. The Jag Buggies finally had a trouble free day save for one puncture for Al Attiyah in the very first kilometer. Sebastien Loeb only complained about lots of dust and non responding competitors ignoring their sentinel warning system. Still he beat Yazid Al Rahji by 1m08s, Al Attiyah was 3rd by 1m22s.

Do not praise the day before it's evening. A saying both Paul Spierings and Kris Meeke got to feel today. Both did very well for the first three quarters of the stage. Meeke and Rosegaar ran in 3rd, Spierings in 4th. But a stunt was not achieved as Rosegaar missed one of those pesky waypoints and to top it off Meeke was caught speeding. They copped 30 minutes penalty and fell back to 21st. For Spierings it looks much worse, his CanAm gave up with electrical problems and he was towed back to the finish, losing two and a half hours. Fingers crossed they can change the electrical systems, penalties bedamned. Up front it became a fight between the X Raid Yamaha's and the Goczal Family. Eryk Goczal did have a loose door after almost tumbling off a dune, but he still beat uncle Michal again by six minutes. Quad veteran Ignacio Casale came home third in the Yamaha, narrowly beating father Marek by a minute, they were 15 minutes slower than Eryk



In the trucks Mitchell vd Brink is not a good singer. The young Iveco driver seems to like George Michael and did a bit of car karaoke on the onboards, which was NOT good on the eardrums. Both Moi Torrallardoña and Jarno vd Pol didnt complain, as Vd Brinks rhythm was good and he got home in second, although he might have avoided a speeding penalty of minutes if he braked earlier for a CP checkpoint. He lost six minutes to a determined Janus van Kasteren. All four of the favorites in the category were actually together at one point in a little convoy: Van Kasteren, Maçik, Loprais and Vd Brink, all searching for waypoints, egging each other on, sometimes running almost into or over buggys and slower cars who did not respond to sentinel warnings. Made me think of one scene for Sam Peckinpah's trucker movier Convoy. "The First one to blink would lose", but that was actually vd Brink, who waited for the dust to settle and find Der Neuralgischen Punkt more easily. Loprais and Van Kasteren reacted to that, but Maçik missed both waypoints and lost 31 minutes, coming in 9th just before Anja van Loon and Martin vd Brink

Van Kasteren was unstoppable again and won his fourth stage, keeping up with Eryk Goczal for now ánd getting the lead back. Loprais lost eight minutes and was third, overall he is now five minutes behind Van Kasteren, Maçik has lost 45 minutes already. Jaroslav Valtr nursed Babiska home in 4th with a malfunctioning fuelpump. Pascal de Baar complained about a lack of top speed (and still got a speeding ticket) on the faster closing part but at least he had no penalties for missing waypoints, although some Classics racers complained he turned off at the wrong finish line and snapped pictures to show to race control. To be continued? For now De Baar is 15 minutes behind Maçik, might become interesting in the dunes of the Empty Quarter



Tomorrow the first taste of the Empry Quarter awaits in Shubayta. The road section (527 km) is longer than the stage itself (118 km), but the sea of dunes can catch out the unwary very quickly

Edited by Alex79, 10 January 2024 - 07:23.

[loki]

So this has to be the highest level off season racing event going.

 

Depends on who’s doing the watching.  For the circle trackers it’s the Chili Bowl.  For desert off road, even though they follow Dakar, the Parker 400 is the big dog this month..    

[Alex79]

A few years ago when Joan Barreda was still duelling Marc Coma, sometimes the riders played a few mind games with each other. Coma knew that Barreda was not a great navigator and that he always tried to follow his trails, or stop when he was in front to wait for Coma to come by. The multiple Dakar winner got so fed up with it he stopped on one of the South American stages, sat down and ate a packed lunch. Barreda indeed stopped as well, drinking a bottle of water patiently. A few of these shenanigans were at play in what I call the Empty Prologue. Lots of road section and a small stage

 

Barreda is still active in the bikes for Hero, but he has his ups and downs this year. This stage he was caught out a few times by the Big Fat Dunes, crashed and broke his roadbook. So now he hád to follow others home to the finish as 26th and worse, he will be with the first starters tomorrow. Because, to combat any "tactic retreats" the starting order tomorrow is the last guy goes first in RallyGP class Nacho Cornejo and Kevin Benavides also missed the top10 today, losing around ten minutes. Mason Klein was back in front after repairing his KOVE bike on the fly the last days, he was fifth today behind Australians Toby Price and Daniel Sanders and just in front of Ross Branch. The Botswanan got the lead back by a minute thanks to Cornejo's time loss, Adrien van Beveren also climbs in the standings to fourth because of Benavides falling back. Because of all the top riders messing up, Tobias Ebster got a top10 finish on his Malle Moto bike, four minutes behind stage winner Pablo Quintanilla

 

In the cars, people were already grumbling about the coming 48 hours. The cars will take a completely different road from the bikes, so there are no trails the leading cars can take hints from. The Audi's definetely dont like it, both Sainz and Peterhansel literally stopped in the last part and came in 28th and 30th to be sure of a late starting position. Ekström did not really bother, he came in eight. Sebastien Loeb went even further, he missed a waypoint on purpose to fall back to 40th. Al Attiyah took a totally different approach and simply drove to win. In his backyard he wanted to be able to drive in front, and not be tied down by ruts and trails from others. Because of the start stopping some drivers did new names rose to the front. Jose Yacopini and Guirlain Chicherit were in the hunt for a podium, and they ended up 2nd and 3rd. Guillaume de Mevius had two stressful days. Yesterday he had to drive without powersteering, today he was on the fastest time after Cp2, but broke a drive shaft and dropped to fifth.

 

 

At the finish of the Challengers Kris Meeke and Eryk Goczal were comparing notes about the dunes they encountered and the rollercoaster it gave them. Meeke and Wouter Rosegaar started way back but drove a good race to 6th place, pipping three Taurus buggys in the proces. Fun fact, "team mate" Saleh Alsaif (both have GDrive service and drive an OT3 buggy), clocked the exact same time in an area he knows well from weekend trips. For the first time this rally, no Taurus buggy won the stage. After a long wait CanAm finally came through to win thanks to Chaleco Lopez, who beat Austin Jones and Eryk Goczal by 2 minutes.

 

A horror day for the Arcane team. Gert Jan vd Valk could not even start yesterday as he got in a collision with a press car from Goczal's team. The team worked hard to finish the car for today, and despite getting 15 h time penalty they were allowed to start again, finishing 37nd. Today teammate Alex Peeters was hit by trouble. when the front suspension collapsed. They took apart some spare steering arms and managed to 'macgyver' a new emergency suspension, driving with low front tyre pressure to have some kind of suspension travel.

 

In the smaller SSV, Xavier de Soultrait finally had a good day again after much time lost in all kinds of mishaps. At the front, Yasir Seidan and Jerome de Sadeleer are doing surprisingly well. Both are guided by a son of the late Rene Metge. Adrien navigates for Seidan, Michael for de Sadeleer. After today's stage De Sadeleer found himself in the lead by five minutes because Gerard Farres Guell crashed, Seidan is in fourth

 

 

Speaking of crashing buggies, in the trucks Pascal de Baar got a major scare when he was overtaken by a buggy. "The guy was in a major hurry, didnt even signal us. And then suddenly he hits a dune wrong and flips over, right in our path." De Baar had to brake very hard or else he would have run over the car. Still shaking, the Monster Tatra overtook Jaroslav Valtr in Babiska Tatra, who was stuck on a dune. "he thought I would just drive on haha, but I stopped and pulled him out, works better that way. Despite all that De Baar came in fourth, exactly in the middle of a Dutch convoy. Mitchell vd Brink, Vic Versteijnen, De Baar, William de Groot and Gert Huzink came in 2-3-4-5-6. The only one ruining the combo was Martin Maçik who picked up first place. Janus van Kasteren had a malfunctioning engine and got stuck on a dune, after a reset he had to wait 20 minutes before Michel Becx came by to pull him out, the Iveco driver dropped to 10th , losing 23 minutes. As Loprais also lost 40 minutes, Van Kasteren keeps his lead, with Macik now 2nd

 

 

Tomorrow it is back to basics. The stage around Shubaytah will last 48 hours and like in the old African days, competitors will largely be on their own for this. They have a time limit of 4pm to reach one of 6 bivouacs where they do their own maintenance and arent even allowed communication with their teams. 550 km;s of sand, dunes and sanddunes await. Let her buck ! (as the only film about the Empty quarter i know would say)

[thegamer23]

The Empty Quarter 48 h stage is brutal!!

 

Car's overall leader Yazeed Al Rajhi rolled over and destroyed his car, he's out of contention.

Peterhansel also suffered a big mechanical problem, losing half an hour already.

In the bikes, Quintanilla is stuck in the desert with a bike issue.
Many other riders in trouble as well.

Edited by thegamer23, 11 January 2024 - 10:27.

[Risil]

Big development klaxon

Glad Al-Rajhi is OK