Seamless from Santo, with Variawa victorious

Dakar 2025 | Stage 3 | BISHA > AL HENAKIYAH
January 7 ^th 2025 - 18:58 [GMT + 3]

FOCUS
The stay in Bisha, which lasted almost a week and included scrutineering, came to a close when the wind stopped blowing! The Dakar has resumed its nomadic nature, heading northwest towards Al Henakiyah. The riders, drivers and crews dropped down by about 500 metres in altitude and especially had to tackle a beginning to the special that was very rocky, before picking up speed on sandy plateaus for approximately 200 kilometres. The heavy rainfall from the day before gave way to sunny intervals which made the terrain more conducive to racing. It was even ideal for Lorenzo Santolino, who scored his first stage success on the Dakar behind the handlebars of his Sherco. Saood Variawa also opened his roll of honour at the tender age of 19 years old.

OUTLINE

• Perseverance has paid off for Lorenzo Santolino, who has warmed Spanish supporters’ hearts by winning his first stage on the Dakar on his 7th participation, after the frustration of three premature exits from the rally in the past. This time, he rode seamlessly in climbing up the day’s leaderboard, having been the 11th rider to set off, finally beating Ricky Brabec at the finishing line by 4 minutes.

• Daniel Sanders still leads the general rankings, but American Skyler Howes has moved to within 1’57’’ of the Australian. His Monter Energy Honda HRC team-mate Adrien Van Beveren dropped back to 8th place, 16’24’’ behind the leader, due to a fall that shook him up over a certain part of the distance covered.

• The sensation of the day is perhaps the sensation of the century, because Saood Variawa has become the youngest winner in the history of the queen category at the age of just 19 years. The young South African won a hotly contested special, only 23’’ ahead of Guerlain Chicherit, with a very close top 5 in which the young generation shone brightly. However, these small gaps have not changed the top three of the general rankings, with Henk Lategan in the lead, followed by Al Rajhi (4’45’’ behind) and Al Attiyah (11’14’’). The race leaders are more or less rid of the threat of Sébastien Loeb, who lost 1 hour and 3 minutes on the day’s special after rolling his car and this accident’s ensuing consequences.

• Nicolás Cavigliasso is resuming the good habits of his quad racing days and picking up the stage wins. Today, he picked up his second of the year and has retained the general standings lead in the Challenger class, with a twenty-minute lead over Gonçalo Guerreiro and Corbin Leaverton, the two young drivers of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team.

• ‘Chaleco’ López is now racing for honour and is on the hunt for stage wins. Today he won a fifteenth to add to the others accumulated in his participations in the SSV category and Challenger class, but finds himself 2 hours 45 minutes behind Xavier de Soultrait, who is well in the lead with his team-mate Brock Heger in his wake. 

• The situation in the truck race has settled into a three-way confrontation, still led by Martin Macík, with a lead of 3’34’’ over Aleš Loprais and 34 minutes over Vaidotas Žala, the very efficient newcomer to the category.

A CRUSHING BLOW

Life is never boring with Sébastien Loeb. He has been flamboyant in his sequences of victories but also knows how to be chivalrous during his low points. Once again, he has started the Dakar in such a manner, but the setbacks on the first day of the 48 HR Chrono stage, with engine fan problems causing a time loss of almost three quarters of an hour, were almost absorbed the following day as he put on a show on the return journey to Bisha. Today, the outlook is much cloudier, after he started the special by rolling his car. Initially, the consequences did not seem to be serious, but the after-effects proved to be detrimental. The steering rod that broke 50 kilometres further on could have been easily changed if the spare part had not remained with a part of the bodywork ripped off during the roll in the sand. The man from Alsace was again troubled by engine fan problems, meaning he was unable to drive at his usual pace to make up for lost time. As a result, the Dacia driver now lags 1 hour and 14 minutes behind Henk Lategan in the general rankings on completion of the third stage. For many, this would be a chasm, but for Loeb, it could perhaps be solved by two or three good stages in a row… on the condition that he does not suffer the same fate as his rival Carlos Sainz after inspection of his vehicle by the FIA stewards.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Sébastien Loeb: “Winning the rally is starting to look complicated"

“At the start of the special, I thought we were on the tracks, but we were to the side. I hit a rutt that turned us sideways and the car rolled. That took the tyres off two wheels, but we managed to sort it out within 5 minutes. There wasn’t so much damage, but after fifty kilometres we broke a steering rod. It’s not a serious problem, but our spare part was with the bits of bodywork that had been ripped off when the car rolled. Cristina stopped to give us one, but after that the front engine fan stopped working, so we drove at SSV pace during almost all the stage. It wasn’t the kind of day we prefer. We lost an hour and we got the feeling that we were in ‘it’ up to our necks… But it is what it is, we just have to continue. We’ll keep on racing and we’ll see, even if winning the rally is starting to look complicated”.

STAT OF THE DAY: 6

Today, Lorenzo Santolino obtained his first stage win on the Dakar on his 7th participation. As a result, ‘Santo’ has provided Sherco with its 6th stage success on the race and the French brand’s first in Saudi Arabia following those won in South America by 4 different riders. In 2010, on the first stage in Cordoba, David Casteu wrote the first line on the constructor’s roll of honour. Joan Pedrero (in 2014 and 2017) and Alain Duclos (in 2014) added 3 more before Mickael Metge was victorious in 2019 in Pisco. Five years later, the factory in Nîmes has now completed its collection. David Casteu, who managed the brand’s official team until 2022, and Mickael Metge will be able to congratulate their heir apparent at the bivouac, because the former has enrolled in the bike category to celebrate turning fifty, while the second is the co-pilot of Saudi driver Yasir Seaidan in the Challenger class. ‘Santo’, who currently occupies 10th position in the general rankings, is dreaming of breaking into the top 5, which would be the best result enjoyed by Sherco, whose riders have not yet climbed higher than 6th on the Dakar. Indeed, it was none other than Lorenzo who achieved what is still his personal best as well as that of the family brand made in France.

PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY

The sequence of names and especially dates of birth for the winners of the first three stages in the Ultimate class on the Dakar is phenomenal. Seth Quintero, at the age of 22 years, kicked off proceedings, bothering the statisticians with a record for the most youthful winner on the first loop around Bisha. Twenty-five-year-old Rokas Baciuška could have claimed this record, but the Lithuanian’s victory on the 48 HR Chrono stage came two days too late. Today, the records have tumbled even further thanks to 19-year-old Saood Variawa. With his stage success, perhaps he will be settling down for the long term as holder of this record, whose details are ultimately not very well-known. The South African, who already scored a 5th placed finish on stage 11 last year, this time came hurtling back after a day of mishaps, during which he collided with his team-mate Giniel de Villiers on yesterday’s stage. In the Toyota clan, it is very likely that this clumsiness has been broadly forgiven and made up for today, all the more so given that the three young men who have shone since the beginning of the rally have all done so in a Hilux. Close examination of the day’s top five is surprising, and perhaps a sign of the times: Guerlain Chicherit (a former very young winner in 2006!) achieved the second-best time but was followed by Quintero (22 years old), de Mévius (30 years old) and João Ferreira (25 years old).

W2RC: The oranges in need of vitamins

The Pierer Group which owns the KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas brands has decided, since the Rallye du Maroc, to close ranks under the orange banner. The current bike category leader Daniel Sanders is now riding in the same colours as the Benavides brothers and emerging hope Edgar Canet with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. In 2022, Sam Sunderland opened the W2RC record books by becoming the first world champion of the bike series (FIM), reunified with the car (FIA) calendar, in the colours of GasGas. The following year, Luciano Benavides again brought the crown back to the factory in Mattighofen, in the colours of Husqvarna, but in 2024, Ross Branch enabled Hero MotoSports to triumph. For 2025, KTM is providing itself with all the means necessary to reconquer the discipline’s supreme title, which forged the DNA and its slogan “Ready to race” for the brand launched by Kinigadner on the Dakar. Indeed, KTM has triumphed 19 times on the Dakar, with the last victory to date being the one obtained by Kevin Benavides in 2023. For the moment, the orange brand’s hopes reside with Daniel Sanders, who has led the general standings since the beginning of the race. A 20th success would be a welcome shot of vitamins for the brand which could then claim the 2025 title of world champion again, to go along with the one in 2021 obtained by Austrian Matthias Walkner.

THE MAKINGS OF A CLASSIC
While Land Rover announced on the bivouac a few days ago its official commitment to the next Dakar with three vehicles in the Stock category to challenge the Land Cruisers of the Toyota Auto Body program, the 110 driven by the Gublin-Sousa duo almost climbed onto the podium of the Dakar Classic. After fifth place in the general rankings in H1 on its first participation last year, the French crew this year have this year come up against the Land Cruiser of the title holder and the Nissan Terrano driven by last year’s runner up, both of whom dropped down from H2 into H1, providing tough opposition for the Defender, which has done much better than defending its chances. A second Land Rover, a Series III, can also be found in the Top 10, driven by the Ovoko Racing Lithuanian crew. The Dakar Classic is still seeking an heir to the first winner of the Dakar in 1979: Alain Génestier in his Range Rover Classic, which is the British brand’s sole victory on the rally so far. The Dakar Classic or Stock category could soon build this bridge with the genesis of the Paris-Dakar.