The script of the last two days has not changed, what has changed is the protagonist: Gerd Huzink has taken the place of Mitchel Van den Brink yesterday at the top of the classification of Stage 9 of the truck Dakar. The Dutchman from the Jongbloed Dakar Team with the Renault C460 Hybrid broke the incredible sequence of partial successes of the Iveco Powerstars who collected eight victories in ten timed sections (including the prologue), putting together the last six victories.
Gert, free from ranking constraints (he returned to being in the Top 10 but with an abysmal gap of over 58 hours!), decided to go on the attack in the special that brought the caravan of bison on the road to Alula after a stretch timed 417 km. Huzink set out in this edition to play the role of challenger, but his dream with the hybrid truck was shattered with a rollover in the early stages which knocked him out of the top positions too soon.
The French truck, moreover, has demonstrated that it is particularly fast on certain terrains and gave a clear demonstration of this today on a very variable surface. It must be said that the leader Martin Macik with the Iveco of MM Technology has chosen the tactics of those who do not want to take risks, preferring to keep an eye on the crew who dictate the pace to the bison of the road, carefully avoiding unnecessary risks given that they can defend a margin of almost two hours.
The Czech finished 1'32' behind Huzink, while Aleš Loprais finished third, 4'37'' behind with Praga V4S DKR. Aleš was able to exploit a moment of weakness for Mitchel Van den Brink to regain the last step of the podium in the general classification.
The young Dutchman from Eurol Rallysport finished fourth of the day at 24 minutes with his Powerstar which managed to contain the two Tatra Buggyras of Jaroslav Valtr and Pascal De Baar who essentially traveled in a single pack.
In the overall Janus Van Kasteren with the Iveco of the Boss Machinery team De Rooy FPT remains fourth ahead of the similar vehicles of Vik Versteijnen and Mitchel Becx. Seventh place consolidates the placing of the Japanese Sugarawa with Hino.
Dakar 2024 – General classification Trucks
Stage 9: Hail – Alula
Special: 417 km; Transfer: 222; Total: 649 km
| POS. | Pilot/Mechanic/Navigator | Truck | Time/detachment |
| 1. | Macik-Svanda-Tomasek | Iveco Powerstar | in 43.26'01″ |
| 3. | Van den Brink M.-De Pol-Torrallardona | Iveco Powerstar | at 2.12'10″ |
| 2. | Loprais-Valtr jr-Stross | Prague V4S DKR | at 1.54'42″ |
| 4. | Van Kasteren-Snijders-Rodewald | Iveco Powerstar | at 4.36'27″ |
| 5. | Versteijnen-Van der Sanede-Van Dal | Iveco Powerstar | at 7.51'58″ |
| 6. | Becx-Kuijpers-Van Ginkel | Iveco Powerstar | at 10.49'01″ |
| 7. | De Baar P.-Sikola-Vershoor | Tatra Buggyra | at 15.56'44″ |
| 8. | Huzink-Buursen-Roesink | Renault C460 Hybrid | at 55.17'34″ |
| 9. | De Groot B.-Boogaard-Hofmans | Iveco | at 58.01'56″ |
| 10. | Sugawara-Somemiya-Mochizuki | Hino 600 | at 61.52'09″ |
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