Lucas Moraes makes history with Brazil's unprecedented victory in the Dakar Rally

Driver Lucas Moraes won this Monday (8) one of the stages of the Dakar Rally, in Saudi Arabia, and became the first Brazilian to triumph in the special race in the car category (timed section) since the country debuted in the traditional competition ago. 36 years old.

Stage 3️⃣ – Cars

Provisional top 3:
Lucas Moraes
Mattias Ekström
Yazeed Al Rajhi

1️⃣st Dakar stage victory for Moraes
@YazeedRacing takes the overall lead

See the full results and standings here https://t.co/fYY9fDnZmo#Dakar2024 pic.twitter.com/JtoV7j3iTu

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 8, 2024

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Official Toyota driver, Moraes came out on top after a fierce dispute in the 447 kilometer special stage, between the cities of Ad Dawadimi and Al Salamiya, which involved the Swede Mattias Ekstrom (Audi), the Saudi and world champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Overdrive ) and the current Dakar champion, Qatari Nasser Al-Athiya (Prodrive). Alongside navigator Armand Monleon, the Brazilian who drives a T1+ (4×4 cross-country model) crossed the finish line with an advantage of just nine seconds over second place, Swede Ekströme and his navigator, Emil Bergkvist.

The Brazilian driver burst into tears after getting out of the car. He dedicated the triumph to his four-year-old daughter, who was hospitalized with meningitis.

“At first, her condition scared us. It was difficult as a father to stay here, but the doctors said everything would be fine. Now she is much better and the forecast is that tomorrow she will leave the hospital and go home. It is, then, a doubly happy day”, he said emotionally..

This Monday's special (8) was the third of 12 stages. With today's triumph, Lucas rose from eighth to fourth place in the overall standings of the race, which is led by the duo Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Saudi Arabia)/Timo Gottschalk (Germany). The Dakar Rally started last Friday (6) and runs until January 19th.

“The Dakar is extremely hard on the whole car, but the tires suffer a lot. And saving tires and the car is one of the main strategies for finishing well in the race. It’s not easy – everyone breaks down or gets flat tires. But today we managed to run a “clean” race and with good speed all the time”, explained Lucas, who in the past he had already stood out in the Dakar Rally by finishing third.