The Dakar at halfway: a breath of fresh air

January 10 ^th 2025 - 15:00 [GMT + 3]

• After 2,559 kilometres of specials covered by the bikes and 2,579 by the cars and trucks, 299 vehicles have reached the rest day in Ha’il in the heart of Saudi Arabia. 118 bikes (including 100 Rally 2), 58 Ultimate cars, 2 Stock, 45 Challenger cars, 33 SSV and 43 trucks will resume racing on Saturday for the seven stages remaining before the final finishing line in Shubaytah, in the Empty Quarter. 81 vehicles have been able to use a joker to remain in the race, while 36 have been forced into premature exits (i.e., 10.75%).
• At the midway point, the rankings are dominated by Daniel Sanders in the Rally GP class; Edgar Canet in the Rally 2 class; Henk Lategan in the Ultimate class; Nicolas Cavigliasso in the Challenger class; Brock Heger in the SSV category; and Martin Macik in the truck race, all of whom are under the age of 36 years. The rejuvenation of the discipline is underlined by the records for youthful promise beaten by Seth Quintero and then Saood Variawa, respectively aged 22 and 19 years and both stage winners, as well as the early departures from the rally by Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb.
• Le renouvellement pourrait également être assuré par des espoirs saoudiens Such renewal could also come from the Saudi hopes selected as part of the Saudi Next Gen operation: drivers Hamza Bakhashab (21 years old) and Abdullah Alsheqawi (27) have both won their registration for the Dakar 2026.
• The race for consistency in the Dakar Classic continues with 88 vehicles (against 95 starters), in which the rankings in Ha’il are led by Italian Lorenzo Traglio in a close battle with title holder Carlos Santaolalla.
• The five vehicles enrolled for the Mission 1000 challenge are still going strong and continuing their technological experimentation in the desert. Jordi Juvanteny’s hybrid hydrogen truck is proving, as it did last year, to be the most consistent and efficient in the challenge, while the HySe project’s hydrogen-powered SSV, which has significantly gained in range in comparison to last year, is waiting to have its mettle tested in the sand of the Empty Quarter, just like the three Segway bikes, which are resisting the toughness of the Saudi terrain and climate!

Ultimate: Lategan’s and Al Rajhi’s Toyotas are unshakeable

• Henk Lategan was absent last year following his 5th place in 2023 but has made a winning comeback so far at the midway point of the race. He won the prologue just to have an ideal starting place for the rally (the seconds won on that day did not count in the FIA ranking rules) but the South African has resisted getting carried away and is counting on the reliability of his Toyota Hilux. However, his 10’17’’ lead does not offer him any guarantees.
• The leader’s closest pursuer is Yazeed Al Rajhi, driving the same vehicle as Lategan, who won in Al’Ula and who will be attempting to fly the Saudi flag highest at the podium ceremony in Shubaytah. He in turn is followed by Swede Mattias Ekstrom, who continues keep his Ford Raptor running smoothly and trails the leader by 20’54’’.
• Five times winner Nasser Al Attiyah will no doubt regret neglecting a spare wheel, whose absence on arriving at the bivouac in Ha’il cost him a 10-minute penalty. He is still in the reckoning for victory, occupying 4th place, 35 minutes behind Lategan, but has no further margin for error.
• Two of the major favourites have already left the race prematurely: Carlos Sainz during the 48 HR Chrono stage and Sébastien Loeb on stage three both rolled their cars, damaging the rollbars. Both the Ford Raptor and Dacia Sandrider received the same penalty of disqualification for safety reasons.
• The week was marked by a series of records for youthful promise, with two stages won by 22-year-old Seth Quintero, one by young South African Saood Variawa, who at the age of 19 years should hold the youngest winner record for a long time, and the 48 HR Chrono by 25-year-old Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska. However, only the Californian still features in the top 10, in 9th place, 1 hour and 30 minutes behind.
• In the absence of Laia Sanz, who dropped out of the rally for the same reason as Sainz and Loeb, Christian Lavieille leads the race for two-wheel drive vehicles, with an advantage of 21 minutes over his MD Rallye team-mate Jean-Rémy Bergounhe.

Bikes: A show of force from Sanders and KTM

• Daniel Sanders put himself in a favourable situation from the outset. Thanks to victory on the prologue, the Australian started behind his rivals for stage 1, which he won, enabling him to achieve the same feat the next day, taking advantage of the reverse order start for the 48 HR Chrono stage. ‘Chucky’ also limited the damage when opening the way, on stages 3 and 5. This strategic approach put him in the lead in the general rankings from the very first day of the rally.
• Honda is leading the resistance with 4 riders in the top 6, including Tosha Schareina (in 2nd place, 15’02’’ behind), Adrien Van Beveren (3rd, 24’31’’ back), Skyler Howes (5th, 27’59’’ down) and Ricky Brabec (6th, 29’01’’ behind). Hero rider Ross Branch (4th, 25’48’’ behind) is also keeping the pace. Luciano Benavides on his KTM completes a top 7 all within a 32’15’’ time bracket.
• Edgar Canet could hardly have dreamed of a better debut. The youngest official rider in history (at the age of 19 years) won half of the Rally 2 specials on offer and leads the rankings in addition to occupying 10th place in the overall bike category. The Spaniard boasts a lead of 16’39’’ over his Austrian rival, Tobias Ebster. Michael Docherty (31’07’’ behind) completes a 100% KTM provisional podium ahead of the Hondas ridden by Romain Dumontier (49’47’’ back) and Jacob Arbugright (51’34’’ down).
• KTM has left its mark on the first half of the competition, winning 4 specials out of 6 in the Rally GP class with Sanders and 6 out of 6 in the Rally 2 class (3 for Canet, 2 for Ebster and one for Docherty). Sherco (avec Lorenzo Santolino) and Honda (with AVB) have taken the other two victories. After being dethroned in both classes last year, the Austrian firm is in the process of setting the record straight.
• Emanuel Gyenes and Benjamin Melot, both specialists in the unassisted bikers’ race, finished first and second in 2020. Five years later, the duel has recommenced. Both men have dominated the Original by Motul class, with the advantage for the Romanian by 13’16’’ ahead of the Frenchman. The last step on the provisional podium is also hotly contested, between Jérôme Martiny (58’03’’ behind the current leader), Jaromir Romancik (1:03’29’’ back) and Mike Wiedemann (1:04’28’’ down), who are all within a 6-minute bracket.
• The young brands that have recently arrived on the Dakar are performing well while obtaining experience. Chinese manufacturer Kove is in the Top 20 for the first time in its history with Neels Theric, who is 18th overall and 6th in the Rally 2 class. Italian brand Fantic is battling to achieve its first top 30 finish with Jeremy Miroir (in 28th place), while the three Hoto bikes, also from China, which are making their debut this year, are all still in the race, in the top 50.

Challenger: smoothly does it for Cavigliasso

• Nicolas Cavigliasso finished 9th last year with 2 stage wins but has already gone one better this time, with 3 victories under his belt. His experience in the discipline has helped him to open up a gap in the general rankings in which he boasts a lead of almost 28’34’’ over rookie Gonçalo Guerreiro.
• For his debut on the Dakar, Gonçalo Guerreiro has so far been spared youthful errors and mechanical glitches. His results (2 stage podium finishes) have pushed him into the position of main rival to Cavigliasso for the title, with 28 minutes to make up.
• Paul Spierings, a former biker who switched to 4 wheels in 2022, sprang a surprise by winning the demanding 48 HR Chrono stage, becoming the first Dutchman to taste success in the category. Although he was not expected to feature among the favourites, he nevertheless occupies third place in the general rankings, 33’26’’ behind the leader.
• Corbin Leaverton, Guerreiro’s team-mate and also a debutant, immediately made a name for himself at the beginning of his first Dakar by winning the prologue. Thereafter, he was always in the top five until stage 5, on which he fell victim to a mechanical problem that caused him to lose 4 hours and any hopes of the title.
• Yasir Seaidan struggled for much of the first week but picked up his first victory in the category on arriving in Ha’il. That said, he is already out of the reckoning for the fight for the title.

SSV: Polaris soar away but the hunt is on

• The Polaris vehicles dominated the first three SSV category specials, with the advantage for Brock Heger, who nonetheless is making his first steps on the Dakar. On arrival in Ha’il, he occupied the summit of the general rankings, with a comfortable lead of 1:18’30’’.
• His team-mate, title holder Xavier de Soultrait, got back to winning ways this year with victory on stage 1. However, a broken suspension rod 40 km from the marathon bivouac (on stage 4) led to him losing valuable time.
• After losing time on stage 2, ‘Chaleco’ Lopez now lags behind the leader by almost 2 hours and has switched his focus to stage wins. Indeed, he picked up two of them this week (on stages 3 and 5), giving Can-Am its first success of the year on the third stage.
• Sara Price, who was forced to exit the 48 HR Chrono special due to mechanical problems, shone on stage 4 to gain a second stage success on the Dakar following a victory last year.
• Polaris and Can-Am have shared the stage wins with three each, but the lead acquired by the Sébastien Loeb Racing crews and the setbacks suffered by the Can-Am drivers mean the advantage is with Polaris. The best-ranked Can-Am driver is Alexandre Pinto, who occupies 3rd place in the general rankings, more than 1 hour 30 minutes behind Heger.

 Trucks: Macik in complete control

• 23-year-old Mitchel van den Brink made the best start to the race, winning the prologue as well as the first stage and also bringing a youthful feel to the truck category. The Dutchman met with misfortune, however, due to mechanical problems on the 48 HR Chrono stage, but has still managed to reach the rest day in 2nd position in the provisional race hierarchy, 1 hour 56 minutes behind Martin Macik.
• The Czech title holder has driven a seamless race so far. He was in a three-way battle with Ales Loprais and newcomer to the category Vaidotas Zala on the 48 HR Chrono, but Macik then took advantage of his rivals’ mishaps to soar away, winning three stages on the way. The boss of MM Technology can now content himself with controlling his lead as the race heads to the Empty Quarter.

 Dakar Classic: untouchable specialists!

• The 5th edition of the Dakar Classic has most certainly proved to be the one on which the specialists have emerged. The competition’s first three numbers 700, 701 and 702, distributed in respect of the hierarchy established over the last three editions, find themselves in the first three places at the midway point of the race… but not in that order.
• Title holder Carlos Santaolalla (700) has won four times, leaving last year’s runner-up Lorenzo Traglio (701) to taste victory on stage 2. However, since this performance, in the general rankings, the Italian has taken the lead ahead of the Spaniard and his countryman Juan Morera (702) who has achieved four podium finishes. With 354 points, Traglio in his Nissan Tecnosport leads the Toyota HDJ 80 driven by Santaolalla (31 points behind) and the Porsche driven by Morera (67 points down).
• The two veritable dune-gobbling 4x4s leading the provisional hierarchy could well maintain their advantage during the second week, when navigation-oriented specials will take on greater importance on this edition.