With Sebastien Loeb falling out of contention in yesterday’s Stage 11, the Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz pairing aboard the Audi RS Q e-Tron was able to comfortably drive home in Stage 12 to finish as Dakar 2024 winners, Sainz’s fourth victory in the gruelling off-road event.
Stage 12 started and finished in Yanbu and was a relatively short special at just 175 km (Liaison 153 km).
Crucially, Sainz/Cruz reached the finish, enabling the Spanish rally legend to win his fourth Dakar, after previous triumphs in 2010, 2018 and 2020 whilst simultaneously bringing Audi its first title in the 46th edition of this tough off-road enduro.
At 61 years of age, it’s a magnificent achievement for Sainz, further cementing his place amongst the Dakar greats.
Sainz settled into the overall rally lead after Stage 6 and never relinquished the top place in the standings, overcoming the tough obstacles that the Saudi dunes and off-road terrain could throw at him.
All the while, his closest challengers faded away one by one, until realistically only Loeb could stop him until he too fell out of contention for the outright victory in Stage 11.
Following two stage wins in succession, Overdrive Racing’s Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq started his assault for a third-straight stage victory at 06:37 local time, with third overall in his sights, trailing Loeb by just five minutes at the beginning of the special – Chicherit/Winoq would eventually finish the stage in fourth, as well as narrowly missing out on the overall podium.
At km 33, it was Mattias Audi’s Ekström/Emil Bergvist who had a slight upper hand over Loeb/Lurquin and Romain Dumas/Max Delfino of Rebellion Racing with Sainz/Cruz settling into things two minutes in arrears.
At km 70, Loeb ascended into the top position, chasing Guillaume de Mevius/Xavier Panseri for second overall.
Loeb would go on to win the final stage (his fifth of this year’s event) and as the kilometres ticked by, the top three overall settled into a steady order, but the battle for Stage 12 was inconsequential thanks to Sainz’s efforts.
The Spaniard’s victory run was one of consistency, as he managed to win the Dakar without taking a single stage victory – a first in his Dakar career.
Loeb, who is still chasing his first Dakar win, finished third overall after his hour loss yesterday with suspension damage and it fell to Guillaume De Mevius/Xavier Panseri to finish second overall.
For Sainz, his fourth victory comes with a fourth different manufacturer with his previous victories coming with Volkswagen, Peugeot and Mini respectively.
This latest triumph could be his last however, as Audi, despite debuting the electric RS Q e-Tron in 2022 is looking set to withdraw from further competition at the end of this year to focus on its upcoming Formula 1 project and with few seats remaining for 2025, Sainz could be out of a drive to defend his title in next year’s event.
Stage 12 Top 3: Loeb/Lurquin, De Mevius/Panseri (+05′ 09″), Zala/Fiuza (+05′ 21″)
Final Classification (Top 3): Sainz/Cruz, De Mevius/Panseri (+ 01H 20′ 25″), Loeb/Lurquin (+ 01H 25′ 12″).
In the bikes, last year’s Rally Winner Kevin Benavides posted the best time in the twelfth and final special, his third of this year’s rally.
The 2023 Dakar winner was a minute clear of the field, with team-mate Toby Price second, 1 minute behind, and brother Luciano Benavides a further 1’14” back in third.
In the overall classification, Monster Energy Honda’s Ricky Brabec finished the special to claim his second Dakar triumph after his maiden win in 2020 – joining Brabec on the overall podium is Hero MotoSports Botswanan rider Ross Branch and Honda teammate Adrien Van Beveren.
In the Quads, Alexandre Giroud won the final stage, but it wasn’t enough to secure a third straight Dakar title with Argentinian Manuel Andújar holding on to the top of the overall leaderboard to win his second Dakar, coming three years after his first triumph in 2021.
Mitch Guthrie, who started the stage with a 25-minute lead over Cristina Gutiérrez in the Challenger class, ground to a halt after 7 km with turbo problems, losing at least 20 minutes in the process, all the while Gutierrez progressed smoothly, third quickest after 33 km with the battle for overall victory in the Challenger class hanging in the balance.
At km 70, Gutierrez had closed the gap overall to Guthrie to 20 seconds as the fight for Challenger honours heated up but with only a handful of kilometres to go Gutiérrez had overturned the deficit.
Guthrie’s victory firmly slipped from his grasp when he suffered transmission trouble after 138km and Gutierrez went on to claim Challenger victory, becoming the first woman to win at the Dakar since Jutta Kleinschmidt.
In the Trucks, Martin Macík won overall on his 12th attempt behind the wheel of his Iveco.
