DAKAR 2024

Carlos Sainz saves the Dakar thanks to the help and wheels of Ekström

Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz saved half of Dakar today. We did not have to wait for the hell of stones that will be tomorrow's 480 kilometer stage ending in Yanbu for the punctures to almost ruin the fabulous Dakar of the Spanish Audi couple.

Because three punctures before kilometer 248 left Sainz on the brink of the abyss. He was without a wheel and that means that, without the help of his teammates, the Dakar would have been over at that point. But... that's what the team was for. Previously we had announced that the squires could be the key in this final race and today we had the first test.

A heart-stopping stage...The day has been tense... even before the special started. Because, first, Sébastien Loeb stopped before reaching the exit to do a check - apparently on his engine - which set off all the alarms. However, the Frenchman arrived in time to start in his slot (10:10 local time). And then, already in competition, he didn't seem to accuse him too much...

Afterwards, a failure in the iritrack, the positioning system of Carlos Sainz's Audi #204, did not show its passage through the first reference point, around kilometer 35. A scare in the bodies of the fans - this time the Spanish ones - who followed live the stage... but really a false alarm.

That was just the beginning of what was to come. Sainz started strong, beating Loeb by two minutes as he passed through the first 100 km. But with the first two punctures, the stage began to shift in favor of the Frenchman, who stood at the halfway point of the day with five minutes ahead of Sainz.

But the leader's third puncture arrived, this one at kilometer 248. And that was already definitive because it left him without wheels with more than 100 kilometers to go. Fortunately, help was nearby.

Mattias Ekström, who was flying behind Sainz, arrived at the Matador's position and gave him two healthy tires (the Swede had already punctured twice there, so he was left waiting for those from the assistance truck). Although in that maneuver the Spanish took ten more minutes. With just over 100 kilometers to go the Dakar was tightening... but at least it was still alive for Sainz and Cruz.

Loeb was not spared...and the jack failed...Fortunately, Loeb also suffered from the hard terrain of today's stage, with two punctures to his credit...aggravated by a failure in the hydraulic jack that complicated his even more so the maneuver of changing wheels.

"It's been a tough day. We had a problem with the jack and we had to take the car up onto the rocks to change the two tires we punctured at the back. I lost 15 minutes with it. It's a bit frustrating, of course, but the stages are hard and Carlos has also lost time," the Frenchman summed up at the finish line.

Loeb has also had serious problems with punctures, in his case with the jack(image above)

13:22 ahead of tomorrow...The stage victory went to Toyota's Frenchman, Guerlain Chicherit... but that's the least of it. The important thing is that Sainz and Cruz will start tomorrow with 13 minutes and 22 seconds of difference over Loeb.

But, as we have seen today, just as or more important than that is the position of Stéphane Peterhansel, who will start three positions ahead of Sainz, meaning he will stop as soon as he starts to cover the Spaniard again. Tomorrow, the risk of a puncture is even greater so the final result of the test is still unpredictable.

General classification in cars-Dakar 2024:

1-Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Audi) - 41h 35:1

2-Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin (BRX) in 13:2

3-Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon (Toyota) 1h 02:4

4-Guillaume De Mevius/Xavier Panseri (Toyota) 1h 27:0

5-Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Qinocq (Toyota) 1h 47:5

6-Mathieu Serradori/Loic Minaudier (Century) 1h 48:5

7-Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka (Ford) 1h 59:58

8-Giniel De Villiers/Dennis Murphy (Toyota) at 2h 17:2

9-Guy David Botterill/Brett Cummings (Toyota) 2h 24:26

10-Benediktas Vanagas/Kuldar Sikk (Toyota) 2h 40:5

​Enrique Naranjo