2024 Dakar Rally – Rest day recap and updates

2024 Dakar Rally
Midway

In what has been one of the toughest Dakar Rallys to date, riders have faced close to 4,200 kilometres of riding, with almost 2,400 raced against the clock over a wide variety of terrain. The introduction of the new 48-hour chrono stage posed an immense challenge to riders with distances never before seen at the Dakar. That test of endurance, combined with technically complex navigation, has made the opening week of this year’s event unforgettable.

Racing at the 2024 Dakar Rally resumes on Sunday with stage seven. Expected to be a special of two halves – the first being a maze of rocky canyons before riders reach a long stretch of sand dunes – it’s going to be tough.

Monster Energy Honda have won both editions of the world manufacturers’ championship since the inception of the W2RC in 2022, and the team have come out gunning hard in 2024 for their maiden individual Dakar victory.

HRC upped their game, bulking up from four to six riders between seasons, recruiting Skyler Howes and Tosha Schareina. Halfway through the race, their two young signings are out of the rally, the Spaniard due to a crash and the American as a result of a mechanical failure. Even so, Honda’s core of veterans is still in the game.

Hero MotoSports have also had their fair share of withdrawals, but on a whole different scale. Only one of the four riders who started the race for the Indian outfit is still standing. Joaquim Rodrigues, Sebastian Bühler and the surprise entrant, Joan Barreda, have all exited stage left, one after the other. Now, the hopes of the red-and-white squad rest squarely on the shoulders of a lone hero —a role that Ross Branch is playing with gusto. The Botswanan held the overall lead for a solid four specials, relinquishing his throne to Nacho Cornejo after Stage Three and later to Ricky Brabec at the end of the 48H Chrono.

Now second overall, a mere 51-seconds from the leader, Captain Branch is seeing a lot of red on his weather radar. The airline pilot who moonlights as a rally-raid racer has been sharing the limelight on the overall podium throughout the six stages of the opening week with nothing but Hondas. There are three Hondas in the top four on the rest day!

Sandwiched between the leader, Ricky Brabec, and Adrien Van Beveren, who in turn has Nacho Cornejo hot on his heels, Branch has been riding out the turbulence like an ace pilot. Yet here is the rub: since he is flying solo, no aid will be forthcoming from a fellow Hero rider if mechanical disaster strikes. Contrast that with Honda, who have three cards to play, as well as a luxury water carrier in Pablo Quintanilla. The Chilean lost his chance to vie for victory after running out of fuel in the 48H Chrono, but he is still there to help out his team-mates.

Halfway through the rally, Honda is holding all the aces to propel Brabec, Adrien Van Beveren or Nacho to the top of the podium in Yanbu. While the odds may favour Big Red, it is worth noting that sheer numbers have never translated to individual success for Honda. The second week will decide!

With six gruelling stages remaining, Toby Price is currently fifth overall in the event standings, with his KTM team-mate, Kevin Benavides, just behind in sixth.

After delivering a strong prologue result, Price lost some valuable minutes due to a small technical issue on stage one. However, the Australian rebounded strongly, finishing the two-day marathon stage as the runner-up.

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Now lying fifth at the event’s midpoint, Price is determined to reclaim time over the remaining six days.

Toby Price

“After yesterday’s marathon stage, today’s rest day is definitely appreciated. Overall it’s not been the best first week for us – position-wise, we’re doing okay, but I’m a little further back on time that I’d like at this point in the race. As we’ve seen already at this year’s event, the gaps on each stage can be huge and it only takes a small mistake to lose a big chunk of time. For me right now, I’m feeling good. I got through the first week relatively unscathed, and the bike has been 100 per cent, too. My plan for this second week is to just take each day as it comes, focus on not making any errors, and try and hunt down the guys ahead. It won’t be easy, it never is, but I’m going to give it my best shot.”

A small mistake on stage two cost Benavides around 10 minutes to his rivals. Demonstrating his experience and skill, however, the Argentinian wasn’t fazed by the issue and took the fight into the following stages to steadily move himself back up the standings. Currently in sixth overall heading into week two, Kevin is feeling fit and well-placed to put on a charge over the second half of the race.

Kevin Benavides

“I think my first week has gone well. It’s been a tough week and I’m not quite where I expected to be going into the rest day. On day two, I made a mistake with my navigation and got lost, which cost me some time on the stage. That meant my start position for the next few stages wasn’t ideal, especially on the first half of the marathon stage. But I think it’s ok, we’re still in the fight and we have a big week ahead of us. I’m going to use the rest day properly – to recover and regroup ahead of the final six stages of this year’s race. The goal is then to come out fighting tomorrow, attack the stages, and do my best.”

As the sole remaining GASGAS rider in the rally, Daniel Sanders is fired up to kick off week two in style. The remaining stages then take place on terrain to Chucky’s liking, so we do not doubt that he’ll remind everyone about what he’s capable of as he continues to work his way up the overall leaderboard.

Daniel Sanders

“What can I say about week one? Well, it was a bit of a slow start for me really. Stage one was really tough, and I didn’t set the bike up so well for it, just because I didn’t expect it to be so rocky, but from then on, with a few small changes, I’ve felt great on the bike. Each day has been a little better, and then on stage five and the chrono stage I was able to make up some time, and my confidence has been coming back too. Overall, I didn’t have the best start to the race and I expected it to go a little bit better, but now that we’re well into things I have a bit of momentum going. For week two I’ll be working on keeping mistakes to a minimum and keep on closing in on the leaders. I like the terrain where we’re headed next week so hopefully this will play into my favour and we can have a stronger week of racing.”

Luciano Benavides has delivered solid, consistent performances throughout the rally so far, including one runner-up stage finish, which has placed him eighth in the overall standings.

Luciano Benavides

“We finished the challenging 48-hour marathon stage after over 600 kilometres of racing in the dunes. It was difficult as I led the way for a lot of the special so I did lose some time because of that. Still, I really enjoyed the new stage, but I am exhausted and very happy to have a day off to recover and reset my mind. I’m feeling really good on the bike overall, I’m happy to be here and still racing, as a lot of people haven’t made it to this point. I can’t wait for week two, I’ll be giving my all as always, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Dakar Rally 2024 Route Map

2024 Dakar Rally Schedule