The final stage is no longer the catwalk it was until a few years ago, but Ricky Brabec only had to make sure to stay out of trouble on the 175 kilometers of the Yanbu ring to take home his second career Touareg trophy in the 2024 Dakar The Honda rider entered the last special stage of this edition with a margin of over ten minutes over his direct pursuer Ross Branch, today called to open the track with his Hero after winning yesterday's stage.
Without exaggerating, given that he finished in seventh place, 3'31″ behind the winner Kevin Benavides, who closed in style with his third stage success in this edition, the American therefore increased his advantage over his rival of Hero, who despite 1'50″ of bonuses placed ninth at 4'02″. In the end the first two finished the Saudi marathon separated by 10'53″. And the decisive stage was the tenth, the one in which the American's only success came, which was also the one that allowed him to take off.
As mentioned, this is Brabec's second success at the Dakar after the one obtained in 2020, in the first edition held in Saudi Arabia. For Honda, however, it is the return to a triumph that has been missing since 2021, when Kevin Benavides won. For Branch too, however, it is a Dakar to remember, because it is his first final podium, but also because it led the Indian brand to compete for success with the Japanese giant until the last day of the race. A feat that should not be underestimated at all.
Continuing to scroll through the rankings, on the lowest step of the podium we find the other Honda of Adrien van Beveren, who today tried to give HRC a double and almost succeeded. With the fourth time at 1'25″ he had in fact overtaken Branch, but then the bonuses granted to the Botswana driver for opening the track put him back in second place by just over a minute and a half.
At the foot of the podium we find the first of the KTMs, which is precisely that of Benavides, who with today's success has equaled the three in this edition of Nacho Cornejo, from whom he took the fourth position in the general, finishing 38'48 behind “. After having suffered technical problems yesterday, the Chilean rider from Honda once again paid for over 11 minutes today and in the end was unable to finish even in the top 5 of the general classification, being overtaken for just over a minute by the other KTM from Toby Price, second in the stage today, one minute behind his teammate.
The reigning world champion Luciano Benavides instead had to settle for seventh place overall with his Husqvarna, finishing at 53 minutes, but 16 of which were penalties. Nor was it an unforgettable race for Daniel Sanders and GasGas, in the end eighth after just under an hour and a quarter, but without ever leaving a mark in a race in which they were part of the list of favourites.
The top 10 is then completed with the veteran Stefan Svitko, who therefore concluded his 11th Dakar in 15 participations, and with Martin Michek. Immediately behind them was Harith Noah, who with his Sherco therefore won the Rally2 race, beating Romain Dumontier by just under five minutes.
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