Dakar | Car, Stage 6B: Sainz new leader. Al-Attiyah, what a mess

Predictably, the 48 Hours Stage of the 2024 Dakar has literally redrawn the overall ranking of the event. The route of over 600 kilometers designed in the Empty Quarter, made entirely of sand dunes, has two very specific names written. The first, that of the winner of the stage, is surprisingly Sébastien Loeb. The second, new leader of the general classification, is Carlos Sainz.

Loeb, who restarted today after being the only one able to follow Sainz with a certain consistency in the first part – the longest – of Stage 6, changed gear today and managed to beat the standard bearer for a couple of minutes of Audi Sport, which yesterday had virtually concluded the partial stage classification in command despite some of the protagonists being staggered in the 7 bivouacs set up by the organisation.

The driver of the Bahrain Raid

In this regard, Sainz, although he lost the stage victory, arrived at today's bivouac as the new leader of the general classification. The strategy he put in place two days ago – losing several minutes to then have a better starting position in the 48 Hours Stage – paid dividends and he was perfect in making the most of a situation that turned out to be favorable.

His great experience, combined with his never-fading skills and talent, brought him back to the front of everyone after a stage in which his main rivals were forced to withdraw (Yazeed Al Rajhi after a few kilometers yesterday) or to lose almost three hours due to a mechanical failure.

We are talking about Nasser Al-Attiyah, the great bogeyman of the Audis and the obvious favorite after the two consecutive successes in the car class obtained in 2022 and 2023. Al Attiyah was forced to stop at kilometer 530 due to a mechanical problem on his Hunter Prodrive. He also had to wait for assistance to try to restart, which he managed to do but after losing 2 hours and 45 minutes to the leaders.

This means having lost all hope of success and a podium. It is no coincidence that Al-Attiyah has already made it known that he will make himself available to Sébastien Loeb to help him and attempt a desperate comeback to win what would be the first Dakar of his career.

Mattias Ekstroem is probably the rider who has grown and improved the most compared to last year. The Swede from Audi Sport not only concluded the difficult stage in third place (almost 11 minutes behind Loeb, certainly not an eternity considering the nature of the stage), but also rose to second place in the general classification, for a 1-2 Audi which makes the leaders of Ingolstadt dream before the closing of the Dakar program at the end of this edition of the rally raid.

Lucas Moraes, first driver of the official Toyota team, took fourth place in the stage ahead of Eryk Goczal (Energylandia Rally Team), sensational for being the first driver at the wheel of a light vehicle (SSV) and ahead of much more high-performance cars of the his, and to Guerlain Chicherit (Overdrive Racing). Good seventh place for Martin Prokop with the first Ford Raptor managed by the Orlen Jipocar ​​team, while Giniel De Villiers was eighth ahead of his brand mate Guillaume De Mevius. Michal Goczal completed today's Top 10.

Once the 48-hour stage is over, with the convoy that will be able to enjoy the rest day tomorrow before the second week of competition, the general classification of the Car class sees Carlos Sainz (Audi Sport) ahead of his teammate Mattias Ekstroem by 20 minutes. Third position for Sébastien Loeb with the first Hunter Prodrive managed by the BRX team. The Alsatian is 29'31″ behind his former rival in the WRC, just under half an hour.

Lucas Moraes is fourth with the first official Toyota GR Hilux T1U, but is the first to have a gap of more than an hour from the new leader. Closing the Top 5 is an excellent Guillaume De Mevius with another Toyota GR Hilux T1U, but a private one, managed by the Overdrive team, ahead of the official one by Giniel De Villiers.

Dakar 2024 – Cars – General classification after Stage 6