Dakar 2024 highlights

Anyone who loves the sheer excitement of the world’s toughest off-road race in the world will have been glued to their seats this month watching the highlights of Dakar 2024. The 2024 Dakar Rally was one of the toughest Dakars in the event’s long history and one that pushed its competitors to the limit. Carlos Sainz masterminded a brilliant Car win for Audi, while T3 champion Cristina Gutiérrez became only the second woman to lift the Touraeg winner’s trophy.

The Dakar Rally crams the race distance of an entire season of WRC into a two-week marathon that pushes its stars to the limit. It pits 778 cars, bikes, buggies, and trucks against nearly 8,000km of rugged Saudi Arabian terrain.

Here are some stories from along the route that you may have missed

This was the 46th Dakar Rally and the great event continues to grow, adding more categories and encouraging entries using alternative fuels and ground-breaking tech. But it also evolves to present a bigger sporting challenge to some of the greatest racers in the world. This year, Race director David Castera excelled with the 48Hr Chrono – an unprecedented marathon stage that took the Dakarists deep into the 1,000km long and 500km wide Empty Quarter during two days of navigating over towering sand dunes.

Here is the final result:

1. Carlos Sainz
2. De Mevius (South Africa)
3. Sébastien Loeb
4. Guerlain Chicherit (South Africa)
5. Martin Prokop
6. Guy Botterill (South Africa)
7. GINIEL de Villiers (South Africa)
8. Benadiktas Vanagas (South Africa)
9. Lucas Moraes (South Africa)
10. Mathieu Serradori 

Well done to SA’s Guy Botterill for winning The Dakar Award for Best Rookie 2024.

Here are some interesting facts from this year’s 2024 Dakar which you may not know:

• King Carlos is the new title holder of the esteemed #1 position of Dakar 2024. A well-fought title for Sainz.
• P2 overall goes to SA rookie De Mevius in his SA Hallspeed Hilux! The top title of this year’s Dakar for Toyota. What a race for this rookie in his first outing in a T1+
• Giniel de Villiers breaks the record for the most consecutive Dakar Rally finishes. He has completed 21 finishes. The record was previously held by Yoshimasa Sugawara.
• 7 of the top 10 cars in the last stage were built in SA, the Toyota, Century, and a brilliant 7th for Gareth Woolridge in the Ford.
• Since Giniel won his first Dakar in 2009, he has only finished outside the top 10, and managed 15 top 5 positions and 7 podiums.
• Toyota, as a manufacturer, claimed 2nd overall with Guillaume De Mevius and Xavier Panseri. They also hold 6 of the Top 10 positions while Guy Botterill, 6th overall, won the Rookie driver award in yet another Toyota Hilux
• Spanish rider Carles Falcon was involved in an accident and sadly lost his life
• Cristina Gutiérrez became the first woman to win the Dakar Rally since Jutta Kleinschmidt at the turn of the century.
• Bike class competitor Tobias Ebster brought the bivouac to its feet as he finished ninth overall on Stage 5, winning the Rally2 category and the Originals class. It was the first time an Original rider had finished inside the top 10. On the front foot, the Austrian continued to blaze a trail and won the Originals race. What made the result all the more remarkable is that Ebster is a Dakar rookie. He’s also the nephew of KTM legend Heinz Kinigadner, who came agonisingly close to victory at this event, so the result lays a family hoodoo to rest. “It was such a big adventure, it was so tough. It was so rough. It’s the toughest rally in the world,” said Ebster. “I love it, I enjoyed every moment. I had so much fun.”
• Dakar’s fastest brothers, Kevin and Luciano Benavides, finished first and second in a stage. It was a highlight in what had been a difficult Dakar for KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas team riders, where the Honda riders took a grip of the rally from the start.
• New in 2024: The new format marathon stage will be included. A time limit for stopping at 4pm and setting off the next day at 7am. The route features 60% new tracks compared to the previous edition, comprising 5,000 kilometres of special stages.
• The race received 4000 hours of TV broadcast, 128 media, and 56 nationalities. More than 17 million visits to the website and 330 million videos viewed on official platforms.