Dakar Rally 2024 In The Books
ز بلقب الدراجات في #داك 2024
علقوا بالإيموجي المفضل لديكم للاحتفال!
Ricky Brabec took the lead on the rally in the dunes of the Empty Quarter on the formidable 48 HR Chrono stage, and held on to first place all the way to Yanbu to pick up his second Dakar Rally win. From a gap of literally 1 second to an overall margin of 10:43, Brabec and his Monster Energy Honda teammates strategically won stages, broke trails and picked up bonus exactly when needed, particularly Adrien Van Beveren who often opened with the Californian. The Frenchman took advantage of this teamwork to finish third and climb onto the podium for the first time in nine Dakars, and if not for a bit of bad luck, Nacho Cornejo would have been in contention for a place on the podium as well. But it was as easy as the HRC team made it look.
“It’s a nice way to start the year with a victory. “I’m really happy we’re all here and all safe and we can go home,” said an emotional Brabec after timing and scoring confirmed his win. “It wasn’t easy as the course was really tough and so was the competition. Ross Branch —and my own team — kept me on my toes… but not just me, I think we were keeping everyone on each other’s toes. It was definitely a fight to the end for everyone.” After 7,967 km of rallying across Saudi Arabia, Stage 12 ended on the shores of the Red Sea at Yanbu. And as the dust settled, Monster Energy Honda Team’s Ricky Brabec was confirmed the Dakar winner for a second time, further etching his name into the record books as Top American!
“This time was a little bit different as I feel like this one was more earned as it was a lot tougher. In 2020, we had a big gap from the get-go. Here, I think me and Ross spent three days with a couple of seconds difference. It was a tight race for all of us. I think between first and third there are eleven minutes or something, whatever Adrien got, but it’s been a tight race and 10 minutes is not a big gap here on the rally. I had two good days, two opportunities to make a good push, but also stage 11 was a scare factor for me because I knew Ross was starting behind me, 18 minutes behind, and if he caught me it would be over. Stage 11 was hard but I stayed focused, got to the finishing line and didn’t lose too much time, so I’m really happy with this and I’m really happy for the team.
I’m happy for all of us, we did an excellent job all of the two weeks. I think number 9 will be my lucky number from now on.”
Dakar Rally Provisional Standings after Stage 12
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 BRABEC Ricky 9 USA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda 51:30:08
2 BRANCH Ross 16 BWA Hero Motorsports Team Rally Hero +10:53
3 VAN BEVEREN Adrien 42 FRA Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +12:25
4 BENAVIDES Kevin 1 ARG Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM +38:48
5 PRICE Toby 18 AUS Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team KTM +45:28
6 CORNEJO José Ignacio "Nacho" 11 CHI Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +46:38
7 BENAVIDES Luciano 77 ARG Husqvarna Factory Racing Husqvarna +53:31
8 SANDERS Daniel 4 AUS Gas Gas Factory Team Gas Gas +01:14:32
9 SVITKO Stefan 142 SLO Slovnaft Rally Team KTM +01:56:28
10 MICHEK Martin 10 CZE Orion Moto Racing Group KTM +02:48:49