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Dakar 2024 Stage 7 Results: Nacho & Loeb Claim Third Stage Victories - Brabec & Sainz Lead
Stage 7 of Dakar 2024 saw Honda's Nacho and WRC legend Sebastien Loeb take their third stage wins of the rally this year. Honda's Ricky Brabec and Audi's Carlos Sainz continue to lead the overall standings.
Dakar 2024 resumed today after the traditional mid-rally rest day with contestants heading west to Al Duwadimi from the Saudi capital of Riyadh, a distance of 873 kilometres, the longest this year. Today's stage included a 483km long timed special.
Bikes
Stage 7 saw a familiar face on top of the podium with Honda's 'Nacho' Juan Ignacio Cornejo Florimo taking his third stage win of this year's Dakar Rally. The Chilean rider sailed across the Saudi Arabian sand dunes, finishing the special stage in five hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds.
Nacho kept the Argentinian Benavides brothers - Husqvarna's Luciano and KTM's Kevin, the defending World Rally Raid and Dakar champions respectively - at bay. It was Luciano Benavides who beat his brother in the time sheets, ending the day three minutes and 12 seconds behind Nacho's Honda, with Kevin a further 20 seconds behind.
Hero's only remaining rider at Dakar 2024, Botswana's Ross Branch took fourth place in today's stage with the Kalahari Ferrari ending the stage six minutes and 36 seconds behind Nacho.
Rounding off the top 5 in the bikes category was the Honda of Ricky Brabec, who ended the day seven minutes and 26 minutes behind his Chilean teammate as he just about kept Branch at bay in the overall standings.
The two Sherco riders, Portugal's Rui Goncalves and India's Harith Noah ended the day together. Goncalves lead the duo on the time sheets, ending the day in 15th overall, 25 minutes and four seconds behind the stage winner. Goncalves would have finished a lot higher but was hit with a 15-minute time penalty.
India's Harith Noah, ended the stage in 16th overall, 26 minutes and 16 seconds behind the stage winner Nacho's Honda. Noah ended today's stage in the Rally 2 class, eight minutes and 34 seconds behind class winner Mathieu Doveze.
In the overall standings, Honda's Ricky Brabec leads the timesheets with a time of 32:37:20. The American rider is only one second ahead of Hero's Ross Branch, who took 50 seconds off the time of Brabec today.
In third place is Honda's Nacho, who took his third stage win of Dakar 2024 today. Nacho is currently six minutes and 48 seconds behind Brabec. Stage 6 winner, Honda's Adrien Van Beveren is in fourth place, 14:39 off the pace while defending champion Kevin Benavides rounds off the top 5 and is 24:39 behind Brabec.
India's Harith Noah remains 13th overall, 17 minutes and 34 seconds behind Brabec's Honda. Noah also retained the third spot in Rally 2 and is 17 minutes and 34 seconds behind Romain Dumontier.
Sherco's Rui Goncalves is now 29th overall. The rider from Portugal is six hours, 18 minutes and 27 seconds behind Honda's Ricky Brabec after his issues during the 48 Hour Chrono Stage.
Cars
9-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb kicked off proceedings for the cars in today's stage. The French rally legend just blitzed his way across the sands of Saudi Arabia as he took the challenge to Audi's Carlos Sainz ending the Super Stage in four hours, 56 minutes and 39 seconds.
The WRC legend's performance on the way to a third stage win this year was so dominant that the Toyota Hilux of Lucas Moraes in second, ended the stage seven minutes and six seconds behind Loeb.
Claiming the final podium spot was two-time defending champion Nasser Al Attiyah who ended the stage nine minutes and 47 seconds behind rival and teammate Loeb (they both drive Prodrive run Hunters).
The Qatari driver, who is no longer in the race to win a hattrick of Dakars, is looking to help his fellow Prodrive driver Loeb win his first-ever Dakar and his performance today kept Audi's Carlos Sainz off the podium.
Sainz was the one bright spot for Audi today with El Matador finishing the day in fourth place, 10 minutes and 31 seconds behind Loeb. Stephane Peterhansel, who was knocked out of contention for overall victory on Stage 6, ended the day in 22nd overall, 43 minutes and 21 seconds off the pace after stopping to help his stricken teammate Ekstrom.
Ekstrom, who was on the overall podium before the stage ended up having his worst day of Dakar 2024 with the Swedish driver ending the day in 103rd, 04:39:30 behind Loeb, ending all of his hopes of winning Dakar 2024, despite starting the day second overall. he like Peterhansel will now have to try and help Sainz win the rally as he tries to keep a charging Loeb at bay.
In the overall standings, Audi's Sainz continues to lead Dakar 2024 with a time of 30:06:42. The Spanish legend is 19 minutes ahead of a charging Loeb who is now second overall after today's insane charge from the front.
Toyota's Lucas Moraes is third overall, with last year's best rookie in a familiar spot occupying the final podium spot for the second year in a row. The Brazilian driver is one hour and 35 minutes behind Sainz.
Thoughts About Dakar Stage 7
The seventh stage of Dakar 2024 saw familiar faces atop the podiums as Honda's 'Nacho' and WRC legend Loeb claimed their 3rd stage wins of this year's rally on Stage 7. Both Nacho and Loeb pulled off spectacular wins today as they closed in on their rivals in the overall standings.
While Sainz's lead is still quite large at 19 minutes over Loeb, the bikes category is still a very close battle with 5 stages left. After over 32 hours and 37 minutes of racing, Honda's Brabec is only 1 second or about 12 bike lengths at their current average speeds ahead of Hero's Branch on the time sheets.
Tomorrow's stage will see competitors head from Al Duwadimi to Hail, a distance of 678 kilometres which also includes a 458km special stage. Competitors will have to be nice and gentle as they cover the distance with the sand making way for some stony, rugged terrain which could lead to punctures and end races if those riding or driving are not careful.
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