DAKAR 2024

Ricky Brabec conquers the Dakar 2024 with Ross Branch and Adrien Van Beveren on the podium

The American Ricky Brabec has been proclaimed winner of the 2024 Dakar, thus achieving his second final victory in the event - and the second for the United States - after 2020, returning Honda to the top three years later.

It is the third victory for Honda in the five years of the Dakar in Saudi Arabia, where Brabec has been on the podium more times than anyone else, since he was also second in 2021. The United States is the country with the most podiums in this five-year period, with a total of four.

Almost eleven minutes in the overall standings, Botswana's Ross Branch finished, making history by achieving the first podium in the history of both Hero and his country, returning Africa to the Dakar podium after almost 20 years: the last one was South African Alfie Cox in 2005.

Also making his debut on the podium is the Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren(image above), who is a minute and a half behind Branch but at least removes the thorn of 2017, when he lost the podium in the final stage by a sigh; and he returns France to the final box a decade after Olivier Pain's third place in 2014.

The fourth final position has gone to the Argentine Kevin Benavides, last year's winner and who, despite winning the last stage and becoming the first American driver to reach eleven stages in the Dakar, has not been able to prevent 2024 from being the first edition without a KTM on the podium since BMW's triple in the 2000 edition.

The eldest of the Benavides has gained a position thanks to the problems of the Chilean Nacho Cornejo, who has given up ten minutes and has also been surpassed in the final general classification by the Australian Toby Price, who gets into the top 5 for the seventh time in ten participations.

The final top 10 was completed by the Argentine Luciano Benavides, the Australian Daniel Sanders, the Slovak Stefan Svitko and the Czech Martin Machik; with Indian Harith Noah eleventh and winner in Rally2 ahead of Frenchman Romain Dumontier and South African Bradley Cox.

​Swinxy