Tosha wins Dakar prologue with Sanders hot on his heels…

2024 Dakar Rally – Prologue
Alula > Alula

The 2024 Dakar Rally has finally begun in Saudi Arabia with the prologue kicking off all the action. Honda’s Tosha Schareina took the first victory out of Alula.

As the first Honda RallyGP rider out of the starting blocks Schareina was on the attack for the 27 km course from the get go, seeing him take his first ever Dakar stage win.

Tosha Schareina – P1

“I felt really good in the prologue, it was longer than expected with more navigation and it was 100% sand too. Of course we have to keep our feet on the ground because the main race starts tomorrow, so I will keep focused on that and keeping thinking about the Dakar.”

The organisers had set a tricky prologue, riders tested on off-piste and sandy sections relying heavily on their navigation skills.

Runner up for the day was Australia’s Daniel Sanders, just 12-sec off the lead on his GASGAS machinery, followed by Hero Motosports Ross Branch.

Daniel Sanders – P2

“Was a lot of excitement at the start of the stage. We were very nervous and was good to get through the first prologue was really rough and tough with a lot of traffic in front of us so it wasn’t normally like the smooth line with you know, 10-15 bikes in front, there were a 180 vehicles in front of us. So it was really broken and was hard but I tried hard to focus on the roadbook, I just tried to push the tracks as much as possible and try not to get lost. But I made one mistake near the finish with five kilometres to go so I’ll lose some seconds there, but yeah, just tried to bring it home safe after that.”

Rounding out the top five, just a day after his 33rd birthday, Adrien Van Beveren kept in touching distance of Tosha to be fourth, Luciano Benavides fifth, as top Husqvarna rider.

Adrien Van Beveren – P4

“For the first day it was like a mini stage, not a usual prologue where you have the lines and you follow a track. There was more navigation, a lot of notes in the road book and I realised we had to focus on that and keep pushing at the same time. The lines of the guys in front of us made it a bit confusing at times because they were not always going in a good direction. It was a busy stage but I’m happy, the bike is going really well and we’re going to be ready for the push tomorrow.”

Australia’s Toby Price meanwhile finished the day in eighth behind Sam Sunderland and Pablo Quintanilla, explaining a mistake cost him a few seconds, but no doubt playing the long game.

Toby Price – P8

“I made a little mistake at the 20k mark there. I went around this valley and I had to come back. So, yeah, I think I lost probably 20, 30 seconds there. So, yeah, it’s only the day one. At the moment it looks like we’re seventh. So, yeah, we’ll get to pick a spot and then make a game plan from there. We’ll just wait and see.”

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Kevin Benavides and Klein Mason rounded out the top-10, Sherco’s top rider Lorenzo Santolino 12th.

The bonus of finishing in the top ten today means riders will get to choose their place for tomorrow’s stage later on this evening and with Tosha on top it’ll be interesting to see what position he chooses, with leading out the stages generally a tactic fraught with risk.

Stage one will kick off the first weekend in January with riders heading East from AlUla to Al Henakiyah where they will be thrown into a 414 km special stage. A 127 km liaison will make up the 541 km total distance in what promises to be a demanding day with rocky terrain and volcanoes on the menu as riders head to the first bivouac.

2024 Dakar Rally – Prologue Results (Top 10)

Dakar 2024 Updates

To complete the first week of the race, a new stage format has been invented over two days, plunging the riders into a unique experience in the heart of the Empty Quarter. Setting off from Shubaytah, separate specials have been prepared for the bikes/quads and cars/trucks: 620 km to be covered over two days for the former and 570 km for the others.

As regards the FIM competitors, a specific rule has been drawn up for the Rally GP riders, who will start out in reverse order of the previous day’s ranking.

In this vast desert of dunes, seven very basic bivouacs spread over six geographical points will be set up to welcome the riders and drivers. They will be obliged to stop as soon as they reach one of them once the cut-off time of 1600 has passed. On site, they will be given an allowance of 6 litres of water, a tent, a floor mat, a sleeping bag and a survival ration. Furthermore, these “rest zones” are totally isolated in terms of connections and telephone networks: the leading riders and drivers will have few clues as to the performances of their rivals! The following day at dawn, the competitors will start at one-minute intervals in the order they arrived at the bivouac.

The bonuses for riders opening the way has been increased to 1.5 seconds per kilometre, in order to decrease the advantage that a rider may have been tempted to take the day before by slowing before entering the rest zone in order to start the next day in second place rather than out in front.

On the return to Shubaytah, the riders will finally be able to await the finishes of their rivals to discover whether their performance has been good or bad in terms of the general rankings. A plane will then take them to Riyadh, where they will at last be able to rest!

Dakar Rally 2024 Route Map

2024 Dakar Rally Schedule