The 2024 Dakar Rally introduced a new 48-hour chrono stage format. Riders and drivers kick off simultaneously as opposed to one after the other, racing till the finish line, but stopping when the clock hits the 4pm deadline, marking the end of the first day. No assistance from the crews was allowed after day one, adding to the challenge. Another challenge nobody expected was the high fuel consumption. Fuel consumption was more than anticipated, so much so, that the organisers even had to modify the route for cars yesterday. On top of these, most of the competitors called the stage one of the hardest ones ever, due to the terrain. Some even had blisters when they reached at the night halt.
On the first day, the pros on the grid completed more than two-thirds of the way, leaving just 150-odd kilometres to go. On the second day, several notable changes took place. Read below for an overview of the day 2 of the Stage 6.
Yesterday, Monster Energy Honda teammates Ricky Brabec and Adrien Van Beveren set the fastest times at various checkpoints, with Van Beveren taking the lead after 424km, ultimately leading the stage at the day’s rest point. As the day concluded, Brabec seized the top spot in the virtual general rankings. Today, as the stage continued, Van Beveren held on to the lead, finishing with the fastest time. He was followed by Red Bull KTM’s Toby Price and then Ricky Brabec for third.
The overall lead has gone back to Honda’s Ricky Brabec, but Hero’s Ross Branch is just 51sec behind with 6 stages still to go. The next 2 spots in the overall rankings are taken by Honda riders Cornejo and Van Beveren.
Sherco TVS Rally Factory rider Harith Noah has made outstanding progress in the 48-hour chrono stage, starting from 21st and climbing up to 12th by the end of the stage. In the overall rankings, he holds 13th position, climbing up from 18th.
Nasser Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah led the stage at the start yesterday. The day witnessed a series of dramatic events, including Overdrive Racing’s Al Rajhi's exit, and Bahrain Raid Xteme’s Stephane Peterhansel facing technical problems. Nasser lost more than 19 minutes opening the way. Audi’s Sainz and teammate Ekstrom then took over the race and finished 1-2 by the end of the first day.
Today, Nasser faced a big loss. He came to a halt after covering close to 90 per cent of the distance and lost over two hours trying to fix a mechanical issue on his car along with co-driver Mathieu Baumel. Sebastian Loeb on the other hand, was third yesterday but overtook Audi’s Sainz, taking the win over yesterday’s provisional leader by just a bit over two minutes. Mattias Ekstrom finished third, 11 minutes behind Loeb. Overall rankings are led by Carlos Sainz, followed by Ekstron and Loeb.
The fierce competition continued on the second day between Manuel Andujar (7240 Team/Dragon Rally Service) and Alexandre Giroud (Yamaha Racing - SMX - Drag'on). Each rider exchanged the best lap time over the two days. Andujar managed to lead through most of the stage but by the 424km mark, Giroud was ahead of Andujar, securing a lead of more than 2 minutes by the day’s end. Today, the competition continued, and Andujar closed the gap down to 1min and 25sec. The top 2 were followed by Marcelo Medeiros who was over 21min down on the pack. In the overall rankings, Andujar still holds the lead with Giroud almost 19 minutes down.
On the first day, Mitchel Van Den Brink (Eurol Rallysport) led at the first checkpoint, closely followed by Martin Macik (MM Technology), while Janus Van Kasteren (Boss Machinery) trailed in third. Ales Loprais (Instaforex Loprais Praga) was behind them. As the race progressed, Macik gained momentum, overtaking Van Den Brink. The most significant development on the first day was Macik surpassing Van Kasteren in the provisional overall rankings. This trend continued on the second day with Macik taking the stage win over an hour ahead of second-place Van Den Brink. Macik now leads the overall ranking as well, with Van Den Brink in second.
Tomorrow is a rest day, with the competitors moving to Riyadh which will be the start point of Stage 7. With 6 stages still to go, tensions are high between the competitors. For us, we wait in anticipation for the action to come. Stay tuned.