The 2024 Dakar Rally came flying out of the traps on Stage Seven following the midpoint Rest Day. It was straight back to business as the convoy set off on a 483-kilometre timed stage which took in a dizzying maze of desert canyons on the route between Riyadh and Al Duwadimi. Gaps to the front of the Ultimate and Bike classes were cut significantly as pressure builds on the dunes.
Story of Stage Seven: Time to make a move
Sébastien Loeb got his Dakar back underway after the Rest Day with an attitude of ‘no time to lose’. The Prodrive Hunter racer opened the way for the cars and set a blistering pace that nobody else could live with on the 483-kilometre special between Riyadh and Al Duwadimi. Despite being the first car onto the stage, Loeb took 10 minutes out of race leader Carlos Sainz and the gap that separates the two former WRC winners now stands at 19 minutes.
« We were the first car and the navigation was really tricky but we didn’t make any big mistakes. We had to make the line for the rest of the cars but sometimes that’s better because you stay really concentrated on the job. » – Sébastien Loeb
Sainz remains in pole position for a fourth Dakar title with five stages now remaining. The Spaniard will be out to use all of his race management experience on the route to the Yanbu finish line on January 19.
« It was quite a difficult day. The navigation was tough and also we got a puncture so it was not perfect for us. Seb (Loeb) did a really good job today. » – Carlos Sainz
Sainz is now the only Audi RS Q e-tron driver with a shot at winning this year after Mattias Ekström ran into trouble on Stage Seven. This follows disappointment for Team Audi Sport on Stage Six when 14-time Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel suffered a Stage Six nightmare on the dunes.
« Today was a long mix of dunes, canyons and rocks. At 50k we stopped for our team-mate Mattias Ekström who had a problem and tried to help him out. » – Stéphane Peterhansel
Toyota GR DKR Hilux driver Lucas Moraes is back in a familiar position, third overall. 12 months ago the Brazilian finished on the podium as a rookie and looks well place to repeat the feat this time around.
« We got one slow puncture 50k from the end and we decided to keep going. We finished on the rim so sorry to the guys who will have to fix that tonight. The goal is to fight for the podium and I still believe we can win. » – Lucas Moraes
After disaster struck for defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah on Stage Six the Qatari got his race back on track today, clocking the day’s third fastest time. Al-Attiyah has set himself the double mission this week of scoring solid stage results and helping out fellow Prodrive Hunter racer Loeb if required.
« Today we had two punctures and an issue with a steering arm so to finish in the Top 3 is really good. Overall victory has gone but we still need to fight on each stage. Well done to Seb (Loeb) today, I’m happy for him. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
Also in the hunt for a stage victory or two in the second week is Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Seth Quintero. Seventh place on today’s stage sets up the 21-year-old to attack the frontrunners tomorrow.
« To be honest I really enjoyed today’s stage, it was a lot of fun and it suited my style of driving. » – Seth Quintero
Keeping an eye on the overall podium are Guillaume de Mévius and Giniel de Villiers with the Toyota drivers placed fourth and fifth respectively.
« It was a bad day for us today, we got lost a few times. We also had a mechanical problem towards the end of the stage so we had to slow down to minimise the damage. We still have five long days so this thing is not finished yet. » – Guillaume de Mévius
Laia Sanz returned to her mission of finishing the rally with a Top 20 result or better behind the wheel of her Astara car. 19th place on Stage Seven has promoted her to 14th overall in the Ultimate class.
Underlining his status as the Challenger class leader during the restart was Mitch Guthrie Jr. of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team. The American drove his Taurus T3 Max to victory on today’s stage to further increase his advantage over his rivals.
« It was nice to have clean air in front of us so me and Kellon could finally have some time to navigate… and no dust today. It was really nice and I’m happy to get to the finish. It was a good day. » – Mitch Guthrie Jr.
Second overall is Guthrie Jr.’s fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Cristina Gutiérrez. The gap between the two Taurus drivers stands at 33m36s, with Chaleco López’s Can-Am a further 6m20s behind in third.
Leading the Challenger class for most of Stage Seven was defending champ Austin ‘AJ’ Jones, but an issue at the 427km mark saw the Can-Am driver concede half an hour to the chasing pack.
It was Rokas Baciuška who steered his Can-Am to second behind Guthrie Jr. on today’s stage. After a tough start to the rally the Lithuanian is now in fifth place overall and has given himself a shot of reaching the overall podium.
The second week of the Bike race got underway with defending champion Kevin Benavides determined to close the gap between himself and leader Ricky Brabec. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Benavides took seven minutes out of Brabec’s lead on Stage Seven, moving to fifth overall and 21m39 off top spot.
« It was a tough stage, really hard. A lot of navigation over camel grass and stoney ground. I think I did good work with my brother Luciano in finding the way. We need to continue like this until the end. » – Kevin Benavides
Luciano Benavides followed older brother Kevin onto the Stage Seven podium and cut his own gap to Brabec by more than four minutes. The 2023 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship winner now sits 43m12s behind the current race leader with five stages still to go.
« I used the Rest Day to change some settings on my bike and I feel better. Even though I did some mistakes at the beginning of the stage I think I did good. My overall rhythm was good so I’m happy. » – Luciano Benavides
Australian riders Toby Price and Daniel Sanders have kept themselves in sixth and seventh place respectively. Both bikers are well placed to launch at attack on Stage Eight.
« It was a bit of a crazy stage, definitely tricky on the navigation. We’ve lost some ground today but we’re still here and riding. I’m having fun and that’s the main thing. The boys in front are on the gas and hard to catch. » – Toby Price
Tomorrow’s 458-kilometre timed special stage between Al Duwadimi and Ha’il sees stones replace sand as the dominant terrain. We’ve already seen how punctures can suck the air out of a bid for glory at this Dakar so the convoy will be on high alert over the rocks.
OVERALL TOP 5 STANDINGS AFTER STAGE SEVEN
ULTIMATE
1. C. Sainz (ESP) – Audi, 30:06:42
2. S. Loeb (FRA) – Prodrive, +19:00
3. L. Moraes (BRA) – Toyota, +01:00:35
4. G. De Mevius (BEL) – Toyota, +01:30:50
5. G. De Villiers (RSA) – Toyota, +01:40:07…
BIKES
1. R. Brabec (USA) – Honda, 32:37:20
2. R. Branch (BWA) – Hero, +00:01
3. J. I. Cornejo (CHI) – Honda, +06:48
4. A. Van Beveren (FRA) – Honda, +14:39
5. K. Benavides (ARG) – KTM, +21:39…
CHALLENGER
1. M. Guthrie (USA) – Taurus, 33:29:29
2. C. Gutierrez (ESP) – Taurus, +33:36
3. F. Lopez (CHI) – Can-Am, +40:16
4. A. Jones (USA) – Can-Am, +01:19:52
5. R. Baciuska (LTU) – Can-Am, +01:23:33…
QUOTES
Sébastien Loeb: « We had a good stage. We were the first car and the navigation was really tricky but we didn’t make any big mistakes. We had to make the line for the rest of the cars but sometimes that’s better because you stay really concentrated on the job. »
Carlos Sainz: « It was quite a difficult day. The navigation was tough and also we got a puncture so it was not perfect for us. Seb (Loeb) did a really good job today. »
Lucas Moraes: « It was a difficult stage. We were the third car for pretty much the whole stage so there weren’t lines to show the way to go through the rocks. We did our best and we just got one slow puncture 50k from the end and we decided to keep going. We finished on the rim so sorry to the guys who will have to fix that tonight. The goal is to fight for the podium and I still believe we can win. »
Seth Quintero: « To be honest I really enjoyed today’s stage, it was a lot of fun and it suited my style of driving. We had an eye on conserving fuel up to around 350k and then after that we tried to turn it up a little bit. Unfortunately we then ended up lost for about 15 minutes with some other cars. »
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « Today we had two punctures and an issue with a steering arm so to finish in the Top 3 is really good. Overall victory has gone but we still need to fight on each stage. Well done to Seb (Loeb) today, I’m happy for him. »
Guillaume de Mévius: « It was a bad day for us today, we got lost a few times. We also had a mechanical problem towards the end of the stage so we had to slow down to minimise the damage. We still have five long days so this thing is not finished yet. »
Stéphane Peterhansel: « It was not an easy stage coming after the Rest Day. Today was a long mix of dunes, canyons and rocks. At 50k we stopped for our team-mate Mattias Ekström who had a problem and tried to help him out. »
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: « It was nice to have clean air in front of us so me and Kellon could finally have some time to navigate… and no dust today. It was really nice and I’m happy to get to the finish. It was a good day. »
Kevin Benavides: « It was a tough stage, really hard. A lot of navigation over camel grass and stoney ground. I think I did good work with my brother Luciano in finding the way. We need to continue like this until the end. »
Luciano Benavides: « I used the Rest Day to change some settings on my bike and I feel better. Even though I did some mistakes at the beginning of the stage I think I did good. My overall rhythm was good so I’m happy. »
Toby Price: « It was a bit of a crazy stage, definitely tricky on the navigation. We’ve lost some ground today but we’re still here and riding. I’m having fun and that’s the main thing. The boys in front are on the gas and hard to catch. »
Daniel Sanders: « After the 48-hour stage this was the longest stage at this Dakar. It went pretty good. There was a lot of stones and a lot of sand so we just tried to keep it on two wheels. We’re on the home stretch now so we’ll keep ticking off days. »
Christine Fial,