2024 could have solely simply began, however it’s already time to shift again into racing mode. On Friday, the forty-sixth version of the legendary Dakar Rally will start.
As we’ve got since 2022, The Checkered Flag is happy to current reside protection and every day recaps of every stage and all the World Rally-Raid Championship. However with each new 12 months additionally means the arrival of recent followers questioning what the fuss is about.
Confused on the place to start out? We’ve received you coated on this nifty information.
What’s the Dakar Rally?
The Dakar Rally was based in 1977 because the Paris–Dakar Rally. Whereas rally raids have been held in years prior, they began to develop in prominence—particularly in Western Europe and North Africa—through the late Nineteen Sixties and Seventies. One in every of these occasions, the World Cup Rally from Europe by means of the Sahara Desert and again, impressed Thierry Sabine to create the Dakar. The inaugural version was held simply after Christmas 1978 and into 1979, taking opponents from Paris to the Senegalese capital of Dakar.
Over the following three a long time, the Dakar advanced into an emblem of the good rally expertise as these like Jacky Ickx and Ari Vatanen to Jean-Louis Schlesser and Stéphane Peterhansel etched their names into historical past. The magic finally led to 2008 when the race was cancelled attributable to safety issues in Mauritania, prompting a transfer to South America from 2009 onwards; though the relocation meant it not goes by means of Senegal, the rally retained the Dakar identify. Even in a brand new surroundings, Peterhansel continued to be the race’s lead determine alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz.
The Dakar’s South American stint wrapped up after 2019 and it was moved to its present dwelling in Saudi Arabia. Al-Attiyah, Peterhansel, and Sainz stay among the many Dakar’s notable aces even in an all-desert surroundings.
As one in all, if not probably the most prestigious off-road race on this planet, the Dakar has and continues to draw racers from nearly each type of motorsport. Whether or not it’s rally, System One like Fernando Alonso, MotoGP with Danilo Petrucci, NASCAR with Robby Gordon, sports activities automobiles like Romain Dumas, and even past the racing realm like alpine skier and 2006 champion Luc Alphand, you possibly can all the time depend on there being an eye catching identify within the grid every time January rolls round.
All of that is swell and all, however you may now be asking…
What’s rally raid?
Rally raid, or cross-country rally, is a bit totally different from different off-road disciplines. As its identify implies, it shares similarities with conventional rallying as opponents race from one level to a different and attempt to set the quickest complete time throughout a number of levels, however the overlap principally stops there.
In a way, a rally raid is sort of a cross between rallying and orienteering. Rally raids happen throughout nearly any type of terrain corresponding to forest, filth, sand, and pavement, however extra excessive parts corresponding to excessive dunes and river crossings are additionally prevalent options. Not like in rallying the place pacenotes are used to determine the course, rally raids depend on a roadbook crammed with diagrams, GPS coordinates, and compass readings. Normally just like the W2RC, racers solely obtain the roadbook shortly earlier than a stage begins, successfully making them blind to what’s to return and so they have to determine the route on the fly. Due to this, it isn’t unusual to see them experience collectively in teams as they attempt to verify the place to go.
Casual cooperation is the norm in rally raid corresponding to opponents stopping to assist an overturned car, pull one that’s caught in mud or water, or lending help in repairs. This might be significantly emphasised when the Dakar Rally enters its marathon levels, which prohibit racers from receiving assist from their groups. For all these above causes, many describe rally raid as the last word off-road journey.
A typical rally day is split right into a timed sector known as a Selective Part (SS) and the liaison. The SS is the place the racing itself takes place and when the clock begins ticking. The liaison, which might fluctuate from being nearly nonexistent to for much longer than the SS, is the untimed route that takes opponents between the SS and the bivouac. The bivouac is mainly a base camp with tents the place everybody sleeps and stays when not racing whereas groups work on their autos.
Rallies that final 4 days are known as Bajas (taking a web page from the legendary Baja 1000, however not for use interchangeably with it); Bajas are sanctioned by the FIA and FIM underneath the separate Bajas World Cup moniker or its regional counterparts in Europe and the Center East. By comparability, a “rally-raid” as seen within the W2RC runs barely longer at 5 days, whereas the Dakar Rally is a “marathon rally-raid” as a result of it’s two weeks lengthy.
You may discover that we prevented utilizing the time period “drivers”. Why is that? Easy, it’s not simply automobiles that race. This may make your subsequent query…
What varieties of autos race?
Not like a WRC occasion or, nicely, most motorsport occasions, the common cross-country rally incorporates a extensive range of autos area spanning a large number of classes. For 2024, there are 5 FIA lessons and 4 FIM.
Final (T1): The highest class for “prototype” race automobiles, these are the premier autos in rally raid who you’ll routinely see on the prime of the leaderboard. Examples embrace the twice reigning Dakar champion Toyota Hilux, the Prodrive Hunter, and Audi’s RS Q e-tron E2. Not like Toyota and Prodrive, Audi’s equipment is electrical powered.
Inventory (T2): Manufacturing-based automobiles that typically resemble the fashions that you simply see on the highway. That is the smallest FIA class by far, and solely three entries are collaborating in 2024. With its small measurement, the one constant presence is the Toyota Land Cruiser.
Challenger (T3): Principally a prototype model of a side-by-side car, usually used as the ultimate stepping stone for these hoping to ascend to T1 sooner or later. The Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo and MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max are the highest automobiles, whereas different autos embrace the Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype and GRally OT3.
SSV (T4): Very similar to the distinction between T1 and T2, a T4 automotive is a side-by-side car akin to a T3 however is generally nonetheless in its inventory kind. SSV is normally a Can-Am playground although Polaris hopes to play spoiler.
Truck (T5): These beloved massive boys are the one class with three personnel within the cockpit as the driving force and co-driver are joined by a mechanic. The Russian KAMAZ has lengthy reigned supreme at Dakar within the Truck class, although ongoing sanctions associated to the struggle in Ukraine have sidelined them since 2023. Of their place, IVECO, Praga, and Tatra have come out to play.
RallyGP: The lead bike class is for skilled and manufacturing facility riders who should be authorized by the FIM. Honda, KTM, GasGas, and Hero all area manufacturing facility groups, although some privateers additionally participate.
Rally2: Rally2 bikes are similar to these in RallyGP, so the distinction between the classes is just the presence of amateurs and newcomers to rally raid on this. Some Rally2 riders compete with out groups underneath the Authentic by Motul (Malle Moto) subcategory.
Rally3: Like Rally2, Rally3 is an newbie class although it makes use of enduro and manufacturing bikes with extra limits imposed on them; for instance, Rally3 bikes can solely go 130 km/h versus the 160 km/h of its greater counterparts. Rally3 solely seems at choose W2RC races and won’t be current at Dakar.
Quad: The one four-wheel FIM class, Quads are admittedly a dying breed however nonetheless have the hearts of many. The Yamaha Raptor 700 is the car of selection on this class, although different manufacturers like CFMOTO have additionally appeared on the scene.
Rising extra invested? We hope so. Now that you recognize the fundamentals, you could be a betting particular person and need to know…
Who’re the highest faces this 12 months?
FIA
Al-Attiyah is maybe the most important identify in rally raid immediately. With 5 Dakar Rally victories, two World Rally-Raid Championships, and lots of extra victories in Bajas to his identify, the Qatari stands proud on the prime of the world. 2024 might be his first 12 months racing a Prodrive Hunter, shifting over from Toyota.
As Al-Attiyah joins Prodrive, his rival Sébastien Loeb is now his team-mate. Loeb wants little introduction as a nine-time World Rally Champion who appears to have the ability to win in something he drives from rallycross to Excessive E. Nonetheless, he has but to recover from the hump in rally raid with only one W2RC victory to go together with his runner-up championship end in 2022 and three second-place runs at Dakar. He received a document six levels in a row on the 2023 Dakar Rally however mechanical troubles plagued him and Prodrive; if the staff can slay the demons that plagued them, particularly with Al-Attiyah on their facet, anticipate Loeb to be a risk.
Peterhansel is nicknamed “Mr. Dakar” for his fourteen Dakar Rally victories on each two and 4 wheels. Now in his late fifties, he nonetheless has greater than sufficient within the tank as showcased by his 2021 Dakar and 2022 Abu Dhabi Desert Problem victories, although he has retired from the final two Dakars attributable to crashes. Nonetheless, he stays a contender.
Sainz and Peterhansel are each team-mates at Audi, the previous a three-time Dakar champion together with his most up-to-date in 2020. Rallycross star Mattias Ekström, who raced for Sainz in Excessive E in 2023, can also be an Audi driver. Whereas Audi has proven pace in opposition to their petrol-based rivals, they struggled with dangerous luck and accidents in 2023 that they need to put behind them.
With Al-Attiyah gone, Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Juan Cruz Yacopini at the moment are the highest drivers within the Toyota camp as they completed second and third behind him within the 2023 championship. Al-Rajhi was the one different driver in addition to Al-Attiyah to win a W2RC race final 12 months. Toyota has additionally stuffed the void left by Al-Attiyah with reigning T3 champion Seth Quintero, who holds the document for many stage wins in a single Dakar with twelve in 2022, and Lucas Moraes.
Quintero’s commencement leaves the Challenger class in a toss-up. Austin Jones hopes to attain his third consecutive Dakar win, although fellow American Purple Bull driver and championship runner-up Mitch Guthrie will attempt to snap that streak. Purple Bull is nicely represented within the class as their ranks additionally embrace two-time winner Francisco López Contardo, Cristina Gutiérrez, and 2023 T4 champion Rokas Baciuška. Baciuška strikes as much as Challenger alongside the Goczał household, whose scion Eryk beat him for the Dakar T4 win at simply eighteen years of age in 2023.
The SSV class is small in star energy in comparison with Challenger, however names to look at embrace João Ferreira, Shinsuke Umeda, and Gerard Farrés. Ferreira, who boasts T1 and T3 expertise, switched to T4 and received on début in Morocco in October, whereas Umeda was the 2023 W2RC runner-up. Farrés is about for his seventeenth Dakar.
Whereas Truck not has KAMAZ, IVECO hopes to repeat with Janus van Kasteren and Martin Macík Jr. headlining the producer. Aleš Loprais, who was main the category total in 2023 earlier than withdrawing following a deadly accident, may also be a favorite in his Praga.
FIM
Kevin Benavides enters because the reigning RallyGP Dakar winner, scoring his second win on the ultimate leg. His youthful brother Luciano Benavides went on to say the W2RC and can sport #1 for 2024.
Two-time winner Toby Value fell quick within the 2023 factors battle. As he contemplates a swap to 4 wheels, he desires to at the least safe one other Dakar earlier than making the soar.
Monster Vitality Honda Rally Staff will deliver six bikes to Dakar spearheaded by third-placed Adrien Van Beveren. Skyler Howes, Luciano’s former team-mate who completed third at Dakar in 2023, is now a Honda manufacturing facility rider as is Tosha Schareina, who impressed as a satellite tv for pc final 12 months. Ricky Brabec received the 2020 version.
Rally2 is all the time murkier to discern, however Romain Dumontier is the defending winner and world champion. Paolo Lucci, Bradley Cox, and Michael Docherty hope to finish his reign in 2024, whereas Konrad Dąbrowski is dedicated to do the identical after lacking the 2023 race to appendicitis.
Solely ten Quads are entered at Dakar, although Alexandre Giroud figures to be the favorite as he has received back-to-back Dakars. Laisvydas Kancius is the defending champion.
With the massive names out of the way in which, the following massive query could be…
The place do I watch?
As a result of the Dakar takes place in an enormous desert, conventional broadcasts like in circuit racing is nearly not possible. As a substitute, many networks go for spotlight exhibits and comparable packages.
In america, MAVTV will air one-hour spotlight exhibits every day at midday and seven PM Jap Time. NBC Sports activities may also have highlights on Peacock. FOX Sports activities holds the published deal in Mexico.
Europeans can observe alongside by way of Eurosport‘s three-hour every day exhibits, whereas L’Équipe now has the published rights in France. L’Équipe’s father or mother firm can also be the proprietor of the Amaury Sport Organisation, who oversees the Dakar. TV3 Group has protection rights within the Baltics as does RTVS in Slovakia.
Within the Center East, Saudi Sport Firm will air he race on its SSC Information and SSC2 channels whereas MBC Motion is accessible in twenty-four international locations.
Different on-line opportunties embrace FloRacing and Purple Bull TV, although the latter focuses on these sponsored by the vitality drink.
That covers the who, what, and the place, however what about…
When is the Dakar going down?
The 2024 Dakar Rally begins on Friday, 5 January, with a Prologue stage beginning and ending in Al-‘Ula. Racing will happen every day for the primary six levels from 6 to 12 January.
Stage #6 is on 11/12 January as a brand new forty-eight-hour leg dubbed the Chrono Stage, the place opponents will camp in a single day earlier than persevering with the following day. Such a rigorous stage means 13 January might be a relaxation day earlier than the race resumes on the 14th. Motion continues till the ultimate day on 19 January.
We’ll see you there!
