FOCUS
Medina Province, in the north-western quadrant of Saudi Arabia, set the scene for the special, which went on and on for 414 kilometres and threw the riders and crews of the Dakar in at the deep end. After exiting AlUla, the field weaved its way around canyons on sand, but the landscape soon changed to more challenging terrain. Several riders were brought down by stones, including the victor of the prologue, Tosha Schareina, who was one of the favourites to take the motorbike race, but the stage winner, Ross Branch, and Mason Klein, who always has an ace up his sleeve (see “Performance of the day”), successfully navigated the fiendish course. The volcanic soil of the second half of the stage turned on the heat on big favourites such as Nasser Al Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb, but Guillaume de Mevius kept a cool head and got the better of Carlos Sainz in this chaotic stage.
OUTLINE
Rule number 1 in a motorbike race is to stay upright no matter how many pebbles, stones or rocks stand in the way. A couple of riders broke this cardinal rule this morning, as the seasoned Joaquim Rodrigues crashed out of the race at km 82 and the budding talent Tosha Schareina bowed out of his third Dakar at km 240 with a fractured arm. “J-Rod” had earned the Indian constructor Hero its maiden stage win in 2022. In sharp contrast, his teammate Ross Branch romped home with the fastest time in the special and scooped up his fourth career Dakar stage win. The Botswanan airline pilot who moonlights as a rally-raid racer also surged ahead in the overall, where he now holds a 12-minute margin over the 2020 Dakar champion, Ricky Brabec, and Mason Klein, who embraced the task of opening the road with panache and spent the entire stage alone at the front. Meanwhile, in the quad race, the Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros overtook all his rivals, including Alexandre Giroud, who will now be in the unfamiliar position of having to claw back time after losing more than half an hour due to a mechanical. Just as Ross Branch opened up some daylight on the road to Al Kenakiyah, Guillaume de Mevius also got a big confidence boost at the wheel of his Toyota Hilux, which he had only driven in the Rallye du Maroc before. The young Belgian, who was still guarded about his prospects when he claimed his first win in T3 in 2022, can now look for parallels with his father Grégoire, who waited until his fourth start before snapping up the three stage wins on his list of victories. In his very first stage in the premier class, the latest scion of the De Mevius dynasty finished 1′44″ ahead of a driver of the calibre of Carlos Sainz in a special that scattered the rest of the favourites to the wind. A flurry of punctures cost Nasser Al Attiyah 25 minutes and his teammate Sébastien Loeb 23 minutes, while Guerlain Chicherit limped home with a 22-minute loss. It was also a bad day at the office for Stéphane Peterhansel (32 minutes down). On the other side of the coin, the outsiders who started from afar got the best results, with Giniel de Villiers finishing third at 9′18″, Vaidotas Žala fourth at 10′42″, Romain Dumas fifth at 12′18″ and Lucas Moraes sixth at 13′25″, for a total of six Toyotas in the top 8. In the Challenger race, the Goczałs did not fall prey to the volcanic panic, as Eryk seized the overall lead with 19 seconds in hand over his uncle Michał and 7′38″ over his father, Marek. As in the SSV class, Brazilian samba filled the air in the quad special, as Rodrigo Varela, the son of the 2018 champion Reinaldo Varela, took the special. Finally, Janus van Kasteren picked up right where he left off in the truck category.
Mason Klein was not even sure that he would be able to start his third Dakar on his brand-new second-generation Kove, which got stuck in customs in Dubai, but his Chinese mount finally arrived a few hours before the gong rang on the technical scrutineering. The American finished in the top 10 in the prologue and picked his starting order for stage 1. The 22-year-old privateer chose to start first, a position typically avoided by Rally GP riders that would have usually gone to Skyler Howes, the worst performer in the opening romp. “The idea of opening the first stage at the Dakar is really cool so, in the end, no regrets because now I can say I’ve done it.” Klein again showed that he is a box full of surprises, not just because he spent the 400 km long hard slog alone at the front, picking up 6′21″ in bonuses and third place at the finish, but also because he did it on a motorbike that he had barely even touched before: “This is my third time on the bike now and I couldn’t be happier.” Today, Klein proved two things to himself and the rest of the field. First, that China has what it takes to become a rally-raid superpower in the near future. And second, that the word “impossible” is just a challenge to the 22-year-old American.
A CRUSHING BLOW
Nasser Al Attiyah is such an experienced and talented rally-raid driver that sometimes it looks like he can do no wrong. However, even the five-time Dakar champion’s Teflon-like ability to slip away from danger was not enough to stop the jagged terrain from doing a number on the tyres of his Hunter T1+. After two punctures in the first 50 km left him without spare wheels, the Qatari spent the rest of the special driving on eggshells and, for the first time in what seems like forever, he finished as low as 22nd place, almost 25 minutes behind Guillaume de Mevius. Al Attiyah will find solace in the fact that his main rivals, Sébastien Loeb, Stéphane Peterhansel and Guerlain Chicherit, suffered a similar fate in stage 1.
STAT OF THE DAY: 22-5-40
Guillaume de Mevius wasted no time in adding his name to the list of Belgian Dakar stage winners in the Ultimate class. One of them is his father, Grégoire, who claimed three specials 22 years ago, back in 2002, when Guillaume was still seven. This brings the total to five members of this select club, chief among them Jacky Ickx, one of the giants of the Dakar, with 29 stage wins to his name. The others are Guy Colsoul (6), Grégoire de Mevius (3), Stéphane Henrard (1) and now Guillaume de Mevius (1), adding up to 40 Dakar stage wins.
W2RC: COX-DUMONTIER, A DUEL AT THE SUMMIT
Bradley Cox and Romain Dumontier finished third and first, respectively, in the 2023 FIM Rally-Raid World Cup in the Rally 2 class, the last rung on the ladder before Rally GP. The South African and the Frenchman make no secret of their common ambition in this edition of the Dakar: to show their faces in the top 10 of each stage to try and catch the eye of a factory team. Alfie Cox‘s son, victorious in the last two Rally 2 rounds in 2023, finished the special in fourth place, within two minutes of the overall podium. “Dudu”, sixth today, is less than a minute behind his new arch-rival for the championship. The two Rally 2 riders outperformed as many as thirteen of the sixteen factory riders still in the Dakar. The Rally 2 scene is gaining depth. Take Mason Klein: a veteran of the Rally 2 class, which he won in 2022, he is now standing on the provisional podium of the Dakar.
THE MAKINGS OF A CLASSIC
Following the one-two finish in the prologue of the two replica Porsche 959s based on the cars that Metge and Ickx drove in 1986, the historical clique composed of vehicles that actually raced in the Dakar in the 1980s and 1990s has taken back control. Maurizio Traglio‘s son Lorenzo and Rudy Briani have vaulted into the lead of the Dakar Classic in a Nissan Pathfinder that used to belong to the Tecnosport squad, which Traglio Sr. used to manage in the 1990s. It was a perfect Italian job, with their Nissan topping the leader board ahead of the Toyota driven by Paolo Bedeschi and Daniele Bottallo, third in the previous edition and also racing for Tecnosport.
MISSION 1000
Jordi Juvanteny is a diehard of the Dakar truck race, which he has only missed once since 1991. He is starting his 32nd edition as the standard-bearer of a virtuous future, behind the wheel of a 12-tonne juggernaut equipped with a mixed hydrogen-diesel power plant. This technology is confidently rising to the challenge of Mission 1000: “These last two days have been fantastic. We decided to move on from diesel because it’s the right thing to do. Everyone needs to do their bit to heal the planet. Yesterday’s prologue was fabulous. The hydrogen engine worked like a charm on a striking variety of terrains, delivering an unusual level of power with no pollution at all. Today’s stage pushed us to the limit and, once again, our main source of power showed what it was capable of without polluting. Where we used to have black fumes, now we see white steam”.
FOCUS
The name may seem misleading, with a prologue that turned out to have an extraordinary dimension,
over a distance of 27 kilometres that was a condensed version, albeit a very accessible one, of the
whole range of terrains encountered on the Dakar. The region of AlUla is ideal for such a sample, with
sandy portions that were followed by rocky zones and even several navigational difficulties that led to
several hesitations for some. However, the specialists in this inaugural exercise were again the ones to
shine: Spaniard Tosha Schareina outdid all the other bikers for the opening of the last edition of the
Rallye du Maroc, and Sweden’s Mattias Ekström was victorious in his Audi on the loop around the “Sea
Camp” on the shores of the Red Sea last year on the Dakar.
OUTLINE
Debutant is no longer an appropriate term to use for Tosha Schareina, who has twice finished in 13th
place on the Dakar and won last summer on the Desafio Ruta 40, but today he began his first race as
an official team rider. Honda’s management team can give themselves a pat on the back for having
recruited the young Spaniard, a target for many teams, who chose the Japanese brand to move up a
gear. Behind him, Daniel Sanders, whose pace enabled him to take the lead at the beginning of the
Dakar in 2022, also let his speed do the talking. The day’s podium was completed by Ross Branch.
The rally’s favourites are still in the reckoning, from Adrien Van Beveren (4th), the Benavides brothers
(with Luciano in 5th and Kevin in 9th), Pablo Quintanilla (7th) to Toby Price (8th), even if Skyler Howes
(42nd) will have to bust a gut to remain in contact with the leaders (see A Crushing Blow). In the car race,
Mattias Ekström’s past on rally tracks provided him with the suitable steering skill to dominate his rivals
and start the race in a positive manner for the Audi clan, as he did last year. Without realising, he tamed
Seth Quintero who began his career in the Ultimate class with panache, achieving the second-best
time of the day, even though they will not be taken into account for the general rankings. The young
American went all out to gain the opportunity of choosing an advantageous starting position tomorrow
morning, as did Sébastien Loeb (3th). Brazilian brothers Marcos and Cristian Baumgart made a
notable start to this Dakar with the 4th and 5th best times (see Performance of the Day), but title holder
Nasser Al Attiyah paid for a small navigation mistake, which may actually work out well for him. With
the 12th best time, he will start tomorrow in 12th place, which is a much better situation than if he had
finished in 10th place, most probably obliged to open the way on stage 1. A similar mishap was suffered
by Guerlain Chicherit (see Quote of the Day), with just as fortunate an outcome, because the
Frenchman finished in 11th place. The first Challenger is not much further down the rankings, because
the 13th best time of the day was achieved by Eryk Goczał, whose capacity to start the rally well is
common knowledge. The young man from Krakow wasted no time in dominating his new category with
20’’ advantage over his uncle Michal, behind the wheel of a machine making a sparkling debut on the
Dakar: along with the vehicles driven by Nicolás Cavigliasso (4th) and Mitch Guthrie (5th), four Taurus
featured in the day’s top 5, encircling the GRallyTeam OT3 driven by Kris Meeke (3rd). Renewal is also
the watchword in the SSV category, with Xavier de Soultrait, winner of a stage on a bike in Peru in
2019 (and 7th in the general rankings), continuing his successful reconversion and proving to be the
quickest driver of the day. He has been entrusted by Sébastien Loeb Racing with a RZR Polaris, the
brand which launched the SSV category on the Dakar, but which had not tasted victory since 2018. De
Soultrait beat the favourite João Ferreira, but the performance of the Polaris machines was underlined
by the third place achieved by Florent Vayssade, a team-mate of the day’s winner. When all is said and
done, the only title holder who occupies the lead in the day’s rankings is truck driver Janus van
Kasteren, who was quicker than Aleš Loprais by 16’’, to kick off the battle between the Netherlands
and the Czech Republic.
PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY
Siblings on the Dakar have a long history, since the Marreau brothers win with their R20 Turbo up to
Kevin and Luciano Benavides, who lit up the race last year in the bike category. Today, another family
duo has made its mark, this time from Brazil, by taking 4th and 5th place on the prologue just behind
Sébastien Loeb and in front of the returning Krzystof Hołowczyc. Marcos and Cristian Baumgart,
five times winners of the Rally dos Sertoes, the all-terrain race of reference in Brazil, already made a
notable appearance on the Dakar in 2019. During their Peruvian adventure, the two drivers from Sao
Paulo were inseparable, finishing the event in 6th and 7th position in the SSV category. This year, they
have moved up a gear and hit the ground running in the Ultimate class. For Cristian, the elder brother,
preparing for the Dakar commenced with the Sonora Rally and a 7th placed finish, then the Rallye du
Maroc (19th), while younger brother Marcos achieved second place on the Rally dos Sertoes, behind…
well, you know who, before 7th place on the Rallye du Maroc. Clearly, the brothers have got to grips with
the Prodrive Hunter T1+ which bodes well for the rest of the race.
A CRUSHING BLOW
Skyler Howes is having trouble getting back in the saddle. For the cowboy from Utah, one prologue
resembles another. Since the Rallye du Maroc, on his official Honda bike, the American has seemed to
have been riding a rodeo horse rather than a thoroughbred that would ensure continuation of the
progression he commenced a year ago. On the Dakar 2023, when riding for Husqvarna, he occupied
the lead on the Dakar at the end of the first week before finishing in Dammam on the third step of the
podium. For his first outing on the Japanese-made bike last October, Skyler fell on the prologue and did
not even manage to reach the finish of the preliminary gallop. Today, the Monster Energy Honda rider
once again bit the dust. Fortunately, this time he was able to climb back on to his steed, but then got
lost in the canyons of AlUla after his roadbook gave up the ghost. With a 44th placed finish 5’10’’ behind
his team-mate Schareina, Howes occupies the last position in the Rally GP class. As a result, the official
HRC rider will most likely have to open the way tomorrow, which is an unenviable task for a stage
announced as long, difficult and complicated to ride as a lone ranger. At least he will be very likely to
pick up the bonus points at the beginning of the special, though this will be of scant consolation to him,
leaving him little choice but to go for broke.
STAT OF THE DAY
4. Initially developed by Mitch Guthrie, who triumphed five times last year on the Dakar, the Taurus T3
Max could not have enjoyed a better beginning to the 46th edition of the rally. Already at the Rallye du
Maroc, Taurus made the headlines by crossing the finishing line first on no less than five stages, three
for Guthrie, one for Eryk Goczał and another for his uncle Michal. Today, the four vehicles in the top 5
have confirmed the machine’s potential. However, it has been somewhat of a damp squib for the CanAm clan, who were also beaten by Ignacio Casale on his Yamaha (6th). David Zille, the leading
representative of the constructor that has dominated the scene on the last several editions, could do no
better than 7th place, which is a first since the arrival of Can-Am on the Dakar in 2018.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
« It was a real prologue. We haven’t seen many like that before, a genuine mini-special with navigation,
difficulties and danger. In fact, we got a bit caught up in the dust of the car in front and went left in a
canyon before we had to do an about turn. On a stage like that, it’s a costly mistake, but that’s motorsport
and it’s not too serious. We’ve had a nice warm-up and are feeling good ». Guerlain Chicherit
MISSION 1000
The “Desert Tigers” have showed their claws for the first time. Among the 10 vehicles that inaugurated
the Mission 1000 challenge format, the one driven by Jean-Michel Paulhe, backed by his employer
Airbus in his project to compete with a hybrid engine SSV, carried out its task without the slightest
problem. Over a route within his range, the man from Marseille proved to be at ease and was very
enthusiastic on exiting his vehicle at the end of the stage: “These first few kilometres in the Saudi desert
were magical! Obviously, we were a bit worried and wary of the slightest noise in the car, but everything
went well. We’re checking that all the measures we have to follow are correct, and that’s the case – we’re
even a little better than expected in terms of consumption. Now we’ll carry on learning”.
THE MAKINGS OF CLASSIC
The two crews of the Porsche 959 replicas could not have dreamed of a better start, with a win on the
prologue. Number 700 is driven by none other than the title holding couple made up by Lidia Ruba and
Juan Morera who, in a tribute to the one-two on the Dakar 1986 achieved by the two official 959s driven
by René Metge and Jacky Ickx, joined forces with number 759 manned by François Larre, a rookie,
and Jérémy Athimon, the mechanic responsible for producing the twin Porsches. The parallel between
the Stuttgart brand’s historical one-two and this curtain raiser is undeniable and already represents a
fine homage, only two days after René Metge passed away.
WORLD RALLY-RAID CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2024 season began today with the initial advantage for two times world champions and title holders
Monster Energy Honda over Hero MotoSports. In the W2RC, Schareina leads Ross Branch, who finds
himself as the filling in a Honda sandwich, with Van Beveren behind him. In Rally 2, the boss of the
class, Romain Dumontier, has taken command in front of Mathieu Doveze and Bradley Cox. JeanLoup Lepan completes the French grip on the top 4 while Paolo Lucci, a regular in the leading places,
is only in 14th position today. In the quad category, Argentineans Francisco Moreno and Manuel
Andújar have enjoyed a better start than Alexandre Giroud. As for the cars, the four constructors
enrolled are in the top 6 from the outset, with Ekström for Audi, Quintero for Toyota Gazoo Racing, the
Baumgart brothers for Nasser Racing Prodrive and Hołowczyc for Mini JCW X-raid. As from tomorrow,
the first points will be up for grabs. In the Challenger class, the arrival of the Goczał clan has not gone
unnoticed and has coincided with the breakthrough of another pretender for the title, Nicolás
Cavigliasso, who leads Mitch Guthrie. In the SSV category, the predicted match between the official
Can-Am Factory driver João Ferreira and South Racing’s rookie Sara Price has begun.
