The 2024 Dakar Rally‘s Quad class was somewhat barren in comparison with earlier years with simply ten entries in comparison with nineteen in 2023, owing to tightened eligibility necessities from the Amaury Sport Organisation that require everybody to have prior World Rally-Raid Championship expertise or be signed up for it. Then again, this meant all ten riders are incomes factors in direction of the 2024 championship.
Though many normal faces like Pablo Copetti and W2RC runner-up Rodolfo Guillioli didn’t return whereas former winners Alejandro and Marcos Patronelli aborted their plans of racing, Manuel Andújar and Alexandre Giroud took up the problem of placing on a superb present within the face of decreased numbers. Giroud appeared to be the primary Quad rider to three-peat, however Andújar—the class’s final winner in 2021 previous to Giroud’s streak—narrowly held off late cost by Giroud to attain the win.
Andújar had contended with Giroud late within the 2023 version earlier than being pressured to drop out by mechanical hassle. This time, his Yamaha Raptor 700 didn’t let him down. Ending on the stage podium for the primary three days and successful Stage #4 gave him the general lead, which he by no means relinquished.
It was not simply cruising, nevertheless, as he had Giroud respiration down his neck. In truth, Giroud most likely might have had an opportunity if not for a Stage #2 engine change that dealt him a fifteen-minute time penalty. After Andújar left Stage #4 with a 21-minute edge over him, Giroud sliced down the margin to below six and a half minutes with the assistance of 5 stage wins and Andújar’s personal penalty for swapping engines.
Nonetheless, Andújar’s Stage #10 victory fluffed the hole again as much as eight minutes. Giroud gained the ultimate two phases, however Andújar was proper behind him each days, trailing by thirty-seven seconds in Stage #11 and fifteen seconds in Stage #12 to render the deficit just about unaffected.
“I noticed it from the skin, experiencing it on the within, ending final; I noticed it from fourth place, lacking out on the rostrum; I noticed it from the highest of the rostrum; I needed to see it from the bottom, all bloody; I noticed it from a helicopter once I was pulled out within the final stage after breaking the engine, leaving me empty-handed,” started a put up from Andújar. “What a loopy race! Immediately, with the identical eyes, we see it once more from the highest with glory in our pockets: we’re 2024 Dakar champions!!”
After lacking out on the rostrum in 2023, Juraj Varga completed third forward of defending W2RC champion Laisvydas Kancius.
Giroud remarked, “There are occasions when a podium with stunning values is best than a victory the place it’s troublesome to look one another within the face.”
Antanas Kanopkinas rounded out the highest 5 within the maiden Dakar for CFMOTO Thunder Racing Workforce. The rally started on an inauspicious be aware for the staff when his CFORCE 1000 broke down throughout non-public testing days earlier than the beginning, whereas the wheel rim broke on the automobile through the penultimate day. Nonetheless, he nonetheless reached the end and a teddy bear air freshener he had driving on the automobile survived the 2 weeks of motion.
“We want to utter the legendary phrase of Benediktas Vanagas: ‘Dakar ends, Dakar begins,’ however we’re fully at midnight concerning the selections of the bike sports activities federation (FIM) and the Dakar organisers ASO,” Kanopkinas commented. “In different phrases, we don’t but know what we are going to do subsequent January. Then again, now’s the time to understand and be pleased with this 12 months’s efficiency: we might have achieved a lot better, however we might have achieved a lot worse.
“Dakar is a really troublesome marathon. You battle for six to eight hours on the monitor for nearly two weeks and even the slightest mistake can erase all of the work and energy you may have put in. I really feel very grateful to everybody who supported, was collectively and believed. Thanks additionally to those that doubted us; that is a further motivation. We have been a bit of bit stumped, however the important thing phrase in our staff is ‘by no means hand over’. Because of everybody. Dakar was superb.”
Marcelo Medeiros gained the primary two phases, overcoming a crash in Stage #2 that bruised his thigh and hip, however one other accident in Stage #7 finally ended his race. He had been third general previous to his retirement. Prologue winner Francisco Moreno bowed out 4 days later with a entrance suspension failure. Toni Vingut retired after an enormous crash in Stage #10 that resulted in a damaged ulna, radius, sacrum, and 6 ribs.
Quad general outcomes
Quad stage winners
W2RC Quad standings
For readability, solely those that earned factors are listed.
