W2RC – Al-Rajhi takes his first Dakar win on home soil, while co-driver Gottschalk takes his second.

Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi has made history by becoming the first Saudi Arabian driver to win the Dakar Rally.

The Toyota Hilux driver won just one stage, but led for the first time since day nine and took an early lead in the FIA ​​World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) with a narrow win of 3 minutes and 57 seconds going into the penultimate stage.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings led from stages 2 to 8, and were back in the lead after stage 10. But the South African couldn’t stop Al-Rajhi from taking the biggest win of his career, giving Saudi co-driver Timo Gottschalk his second victory after a 14-year wait after achieving success with Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah in South America in 2011. couldn’t stop it. .

Lategan led the race for a total of eight days, but fell short after an outstanding drive. I’m glad Overdrive Racing Team Leader Jean-Marc Fortin said: “What should I say? 2 years ago and 3 years ago, 1 and 3 years, last year 2 years, this year 1 and 2. I’m really happy. Winning the Dakar is a lifelong dream. But this was just another test and Overdrive won the Dakar. I can’t believe it. We lead the driver and manufacturer championships. “It’s such a beautiful day.”

The Japanese manufacturer controlled the race from the start. The team won the prologue and eight of the 12 stages to secure its fourth Dakar success, following previous wins in 2019, 2022 and 2023.

The Ford M-Sport team achieved a podium finish and two stage wins after two successful weeks in the new Ford Raptor. The Swedish pairing of Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist set a record on stage 11 with a third-place finish, while teammates Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch finished fifth. Joan Roma won in her third Raptor, but a first week engine block stage and constant delays put her out of contention. Meanwhile, defending champion Carlos Sainz retired before the break due to damage to his car in an accident.

Sandwiched between the two Fords in fourth place were five-time champion Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Edouard Boulanger in the new Dacia Sandrider’s first Dakar appearance. Qatar had been competing for the best result for two weeks, but costly navigation errors and minor delays cost them and just missed the podium finish.

Dacia team-mate Sébastien Loeb was disqualified for the first week after his roll cage was damaged in a crash, while Cristina Gutiérrez acted as Qatar’s support in the third car after suffering delays and resulting time penalties of her own during the first week.

The French team of Mattieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier achieved a career-best sixth place in the Century CR7, ahead of Juan Cruz Yacopini and Dani Oliveras, who led the second team of Overdrive Racing Toyotas to seventh.

Week 2 action between reigning FIA World Champions and European Baja Cup Champions João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro lifted the Portuguese duo from 11th to 8th in the leading diesel X-raid Mini JCW Rally despite a puncture. Their cause was helped by minor delays and time lost in the sand for the Toyota Gazoo Racing duo of Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz, who finished ninth. The 22-year-old American led the event after stage one and went on to win stage two before the break.

Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer finished in the top 10 for the second consecutive week for the Century Racing Factory Team, but were not registered in the W2RC. The Czech Ford F-150 crew of Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka held off challenges from Overdrive Racing’s Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Mena to finish 11th.

The second week was a disappointing one for Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón. They battled for the podium until they lost more than two and a half hours on Stage 6 to technical difficulties, and were also penalized an hour for ‘mobile phone infringement’. Moraes finished 15th, but won stages 7 and 12.

Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq started the second half of the petrol-powered X-Raid MINI JCW Rally from 10th, but the Frenchman rolled after just 16km of the sixth stage and suffered neck pain. I appealed and opted for air transport back to Ha. For a health check-up. His 14th Dakar ended with his fifth withdrawal.

Guillaume de Mévius and last year’s winning navigator Mattieu Baumel suffered transmission problems and some delays and finished 22nd, one place behind X-Raid teammates Lionel and Lucie Baud.

Toyota’s Saood Variawa dropped out of contention after suffering a huge time loss, but made history by becoming the youngest winner of the Ultimate category stage (SS3) at the age of 19.

Cavigliasso and Pertegarini won the Challenger category.

Argentina’s Nicolas Cavilliaso and Valentina Pertegarini After the first week, he maintained a lead of less than 30 minutes and took a memorable win in the Challenger category aboard the Taurus T3 Max.

The couple won three stages during the first week, but finished 1 hour, 11 minutes and 38 seconds ahead of Portugal’s Gonçalo Guerreiro and Brazil’s Cadu Sachs after several rivals ran into problems during the intense second week of racing in southern Saudi Arabia. . Cavigliasso won the quad category in 2019.

Young Spaniard Pau Navarro found himself embroiled in an exciting battle with Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari in week two, while he and co-driver Lisandro Herrera battled BFG’s Corbin Leaverton’s latest technical issues for Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA. I made the most of it. Dutchman Paul Spierings (engine) finished third overall and took the stage win. Al-Kuwari and his brother Nasser finished fourth despite a 30-minute time penalty, while Poland’s Adam Kus and his navigator Dmytro Tsyro rounded out the overall Taurus top five.

Last year’s W2RC SSV champion Yasir Seaidan won three stages despite suffering massive time losses early in the event due to steering issues, while Dania Akeel also fell out of contention after suffering a broken suspension wishbone and a minor time penalty on stage six. Became the first Saudi woman to win a Dakar stage in a Taurus T3 Max. David Zille and Leaverton each also won a stage.

Behind Kus, Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Mario Franco, Puck Klaassen, Leaverton, Seaidan and Akeel rounded out the W2RC participants.

USA’s Heger/Eddy wins SSV section; Portugal’s Pinto/Oliveira finishes third among W2RC registered crews

The Sebastien Loeb Racing-RXR Factory Racing duo of Brock Heger and Max Eddy dominated the SSV category from the fourth stage to the finish, taking a comfortable victory by 2:06:04.

While team-mates and early rally leaders Xavier de Soultrait and Martin Bonnet suffered a one-hour time penalty and suffered front-end assembly and resulting transmission problems, debutant Heger was able to cruise to the finish and take the win. The Polaris RZR Pro R Sports will continue De Soultrait’s brand success in 2024.

Heger25 years old, won the Prologue and Stage 2. The American said: “Today is my birthday, so I thought I should prepare a nice birthday present. We are Dakar champions and it’s pretty crazy to think about it. It hasn’t sunk in yet. This is a great result after two weeks of crazy hard work. We were near the podium every day. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Can-Am Factory Team’s Francisco Lopez and Juan Pablo Latrach were the fastest crew for most of the race in the new Maverick R, but lost a lot of time in the early stages. The Chilean won five of 12 specials and finished second after De Soultrait’s problems.

The Portuguese combination of Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira were the W2RC registered leading crew on the bottom step of the podium in the Old Friends Rally Team Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR. MMP’s Jérôme de Sadeleer and Diego Gil took fourth place.

Enrico Gaspari and Fausto Mota finished fifth, while the Dutch duo of Roger Grouwels and Rudolf Meijer finished third in the W2RC, earning them W2RC points as the second registered crew.

After a disappointing start, the Can-Am Factory team delivered an impressive stage performance. Jeremias Ferioli won the seventh and eighth stages, while Sara Price won the fourth, 11th and 12th, marking the Canadian manufacturer’s 10th consecutive stage win.

Fernando Alvarez of the South Racing Can-Am team was forced to retire with sciatica before the restart after a break in Ha’il.

Behind them Grouwels, Claude Fournier, Michele Cinotto, Price and Manuel Andujar were the W2RC registered drivers at the Shubaytah finish.