Back to hell
The day after the well-deserved rest for the drivers, who faced the 48 Hour Stage between Thursday and Friday, the Dakar Rally resumed today with another decidedly tough test from the Saudi capital Riyadh to Al Duwadimifor a total of 483 km. In an internship from 390 km timedthe victory went to the Chilean from Honda for the third time in this edition José Cornejo Florimowho concluded the seventh stage after almost 5 hours.
Brabec and Branch separated by 1 second
Even during the seventh stage there was no shortage of twists and turns, one of which saw the other Chilean driver competing for the victory as the unfortunate protagonist: Pablo Quintanilla. Specifically, the latter had to surrender to a technical problem at the height of km 112m, with the subsequent repairs made to it waste an hour of time before restarting. In this way, Quintanilla therefore lost his chances of winning this year's Dakar. Even worse went to the Italian Paolo Lucci, so far the author of an applause-worthy performance. The blue, 14th in the general classification aboard the KTM Rally2, is indeed stopped spontaneously at km 192. At first it was thought that he too had a technical failure, only to then request medical assistance for a physical problem, not serious. The brothers' performance, however, was very positive Kevin and Luciano Benavides, who reached 2nd and 3rd place respectively after a long fight with Cornejo Florimo. While the former finished just 32 seconds behind the leader, the reigning FIM Rally-Riad world champion crossed the finish line just over 3 minutes behind. They finally arrived to close the top-5 Ross Branch and Ricky Brabecwith the fifth position of the latter still sufficient to maintain the leadership in the general classification, albeit at 1 second of advantage from the Botswana driver and six minutes behind today's winner, with gaps that confirm an intense fight to win the 2024 Dakar.
Dakar 2024, Motorcycle ranking – Stage 7 (Top-10)
| POS | PILOT | MOTORCYCLE | TIME / GAP |
| 1 | José Cornejo Florimo | Honda | 5:18.33 |
| 2 | Kevin Benavides | KTM | +0.32 |
| 3 | Luciano Benavides | Husqvarna | +3.12 |
| 4 | Ross Branch | Hero | +6.36 |
| 5 | Ricky Brabec | Honda | +7.26 |
| 6 | Daniel Sanders | GasGas | +9.17 |
| 7 | Stefan Svitko | KTM | +10.17 |
| 8 | Toby Price | KTM | +11.26 |
| 9 | Adrien van Beveren | Honda | +12.44 |
| 10 | Martin Michek | KTM | +16.23 |
Dakar 2024, General motorcycle ranking after stage 7 (Top-10)
| POS | PILOT | MOTORCYCLE | TIME / GAP |
| 1 | Ricky Brabec | Honda | 32:37.20 |
| 2 | Ross Branch | Hero | +0.01 |
| 3 | José Cornejo Florimo | Honda | +6.48 |
| 4 | Adrien van Beveren | Honda | +14.39 |
| 5 | Kevin Benavides | KTM | +21.39 |
| 6 | Toby Price | KTM | +31.00 |
| 7 | Daniel Sanders | GasGas | +37.41 |
| 8 | Luciano Benavides | Husqvarna | +43.12 |
| 9 | Stefan Svitko | KTM | +1:10.33 |
| 10 | Martin Michek | KTM | +1:43.21 |
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