Dakar | Car, Stage 10: Chicherit stands out. Loeb better than Sainz

The Overdrive Racing team returns to success at the 2024 Dakar by winning Stage 10, a circular route, which saw the caravan leave and arrive in Al-Ula after 371 timed kilometers and 241 transfers.

The winner of the stage was Guerlain Chicherit, dominating from the start of today's test in which the drivers of the Car class had to face dirt and sand on most of the route.

The French driver thus brought the Overdrive team back to success a few days after Yazeed Al Rajhi's retirement. The Saudi prince, until the first part of the 48 Hours Stage, was even leading the general classification, but the accident that occurred after a few kilometers put him out of action.

Chicherit won the stage by almost 6 minutes ahead of Brian Baragwanath. The South African driver of the Century Racing Factory team finally signed a significant stage after a first week well below expectations.

But the fight for second place was decided by a 2-minute penalty imposed at the end of the stage on the Italian crew of the Ovedrive Racing team made up of Eugenio Amos and Paolo Ceci. The two Italians finished the stage in second place, but the penalty and the subsequent arrival of Benediktas Vanagas sent them down to fourth.

However, nothing takes away from their excellent performance, not to mention their ability to put high-class crews behind them. The Top 5 was completed by an excellent Romain Dumas, first driver of the Rebellion Racing team, ahead of the second official driver of the Century Racing team, Mathieu Serradori. The Frenchman continues his climb after having already recovered a couple of positions in the general classification and is widely fighting for the Top 5.

The first Hunter Prodrive to reach the finish line of today's stage is surprisingly that of the all-Brazilian crew made up of Cristian Baumgart and Alberto Andreotti (X Raid). The two preceded the Toyota GR Hilux of Juan Cruz Jacopini, who returned to high levels after a good start to the race and a much less positive central part.

Martin Prokop finishes ninth with the Ford Raptor of the Orlen Jipocar ​​team ahead of Giullaume De Mevius. The Belgian from the Overdrive Racing team completes the Top 10 and is firmly in fourth place in the general classification.

On a day where the first places in the stage ended up in the hands of strong riders, but supporting ones in terms of the ranking, the fight for the final victory of the Dakar took place well outside the Top 10. Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz they did not go beyond the 14th and 16th times, both held back by problems with their respective cars which virtually radically changed the general classification and then partially rearranged it.

Loeb had a problem on his Hunter during the transfer between the bivouac and the start of the stage, entering qualifying at the last minute. At that point Sainz seemed to be able to easily control his rival until he was forced to stop due to a problem on his Audi RS Q e-tron.

The Madrilenian was helped by his guardian angels, his two teammates Mattias Ekstroem and Stéphane Peterhansel (13th on the stage today), who intervened and helped Carlos restart. At that point Loeb found himself with 15 minutes recovered out of the 20 he had behind the Iberian, but he in turn had to stop to fix another problem on his car.

In this way, upon reaching the finish line, Sainz remained at the top of the general classification with an advantage of just over 13 minutes (13'22″, to be precise) with 2 stages still remaining at the end of the 46th edition of the Dakar. Third place for Lucas Moraes with the first official Toyota GR Hilux T1U, but with over an hour behind the leader.

The Brazilian is followed like a shadow by Guillaume De Mevius, ever closer to the bottom step of the podium. There are now 25 minutes between the two in favor of the South American. Giniel De Villiers, fifth overall until yesterday, was the author of a complicated stage today and dropped to eighth place overall, leaving his position to Guerlain Chicherit, the winner of today's stage.

Mathieu Serradori continues to be the best driver of the Century Racing Factory team, occupying sixth place, but finding himself just 1 minute behind the Top 5. The fight is on. Martin Prokop is also back in the fight, seventh ahead of the aforementioned De Villiers. Guy David Botterill is ninth with the third official Hilux in the top 10 positions, a Top 10 which is completed by the private Toyota managed by Benediktas Vanagas' Baltics team.

Dakar 2024 – Cars – General classification after Stage 10