Dakar Rally Raid Daily

Toby Price has won the 2019 Dakar Rally.

2019-01-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

The Dakar 2019 has been an incredibly successful race for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Toby Price, Matthias Walkner and Sam Sunderland occupy the podium positions with Price securing KTM their 18th consecutive victory at the iconic event. In what has been a superb display of riding, determination and bravery, Price has overcome all the odds to take a well-deserved win.

Breaking his wrist just weeks before the event put doubts on whether the 2016 Dakar winner would even complete the rally. Showing immense resolve, Toby took each stage as it came, riding consistently, and at the end of the 10-day event his perseverance paid off.

It’s been a great few months for Price and KTM – 2018 FIM Cross Country Rallies World Champion and now 2019 Dakar Rally Champion.

Completing her ninth consecutive Dakar, Laia Sanz has once again impressed with her ride at this year’s event. Suffering from a virus late on in 2018 meant that it was almost impossible for Sanz to train properly for the race. Despite the disadvantage, the Spaniard used all her skill and experience to ride with both speed and consistency each day to ultimately claim an incredible 11th overall at the end of over 5,000 kilometers of racing – Laia’s second best ever result at the event.

Laia Sanz: “I think I was more nervous before this final stage than any other, possibly because of what I have been through to get here. This year has been special and I have achieved a great result so I am very happy. It feels great to finally arrive at the finish and I want to thank the team and my mechanics for getting me here. As we have seen this year, the rally has been very tough on the bikes as well as the riders. I am very proud to be able to ride the best machine for the best team.”

ex-F1 driver Alonso wants Dakar Rally attempt

2019-01-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

Over the last two months Toyota has been planning for the eventuality that two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso will decide to contest the Dakar Rally. Alonso - who won the Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota last year - is expected to test a Dakar-spec Gazoo Racing South Africa Hilux within the next month, after contesting the Daytona 24 Hours with Wayne Taylor Racing.

Toyota's Japanese HQ has contacted Glyn Hall, the team principal of its South African-based cross-country rally raid project, and he has been working on a plan in case Alonso wants to enter the Dakar.
Alonso has already contacted Nasser Al-Attiyah to see if it was possible to test his Hilux. But the Alonso plan put in place by Gazoo Racing would go much further and the first test is for the ex-F1 driver to experience the sensations of desert rallying, and to compare himself with one of Toyota's established Dakar drivers.

Read the full report here...

Andrew Short Dakar 2019 5th overall

2019-01-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

There’s been a lot of chaos over the last few days. My plan from the beginning of this race was to just focus on my performance and try to be as smooth and consistent as possible. I’m happy to see my strategy is paying off. This 5th place in the overall is simply amazing.

Remaining calm and focused, Andrew Short has climbed up to an impressive 5th place in the Dakar’s overall standings finishing the 2019 Dakar Rally raid behind winner Toby Price, runner up Matthias Walkner, Sam Sunderland and team-mate Pablo Quintanilla.
The Chilean, who was second in the general standings before this last stage, has fallen after only 10 km of the special. He rode through the pain to save 4th place on the Dakar

Chilean rider Nacho Cornejo climbed to sixth place

2019-01-17T07:00:00.001-08:00

Day nine of the 2019 Dakar took place in the area around Pisco, once again with a motocross-style mass start with riders setting off in waves of ten. 90% of the route was off-piste with half the special in the dunes and the second half of the 313-kilometre stage battled out over harder terrain. Monster Energy Honda Team’s top rider proved to be Nacho Cornejo. The Chilean got off to a swift, yet cautious start, but was able to push hard in the dunes, producing a performance that ranked among the best times of the day. Nacho’s sixth place on the stage meant the rider moves up to sixth overall.

Kevin Benavides came out guns blazing and opened the track for much of the special. A hard-to-locate waypoint caused the first wave of riders to reach the leading group and narrow the times down even further. Benavides eventually posted twelfth, 4’14” behind the stage winner.

Kevin Benavides was sanctioned yesterday with a 3:00’00 penalty after race authorities deemed that the rider had violated one of the new rules established for the race. The team is currently gathering all the necessary information to present an official claim against the sanction.

Yamaha endure mixed fortunes on penultimate Dakar stage

2019-01-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a good feeling aboard his Yamaha, Xavier de Soultrait was able to control his pace on Wednesday. Posting the 10th fastest time for the day, he moved up to fifth in the provisional overall standings. Less than eight minutes behind the rider in fourth, Xavier will do his best to move up higher in the overall during Thursday's final stage.

Adrien Van Beveren started the day determined to battle for the stage victory.
Enjoying a faultless performance for the greater part of the stage, Adrien was just one second behind the day's eventual winner at the fifth and final waypoint. Suffering a small technical issue 16km before the end of the stage, the Frenchman was left with a mountain to climb.

Putting in a heroic effort, he battled through the issue for hours but was not able to cross the finish line.

Dakar 2019 stage 9 Hero

2019-01-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

With just one more day to go as the 41st edition of the Dakar Rally comes to a close, Hero MotoSports Team Rally is poised well to post their third Dakar finish in a commendable position. Both Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodrigues kept their nerves today and kept focus on finishing the penultimate stage of the Dakar 2019 without any incidents. Mena was in top form today as well, defending his position successfully to finish the stage 9 on 11th position.

Today’s solid finish takes him a notch above to 9th position in the overall rankings with only one more stage to go. Joaquim Rodrigues, fighting off a severe back pain from yesterday and despite a crash today, kept pushing himself in another dusty and fast stage to finish the stage 9 in the 19th position. With one more day to go, JRod is placed at 17th position in the overall rankings.
Today’s stage was a mass start in waves of 10 riders each, that offered a run of 313 km in the special stage to the competitors wit a 50-50 mix of the dunes and the soft gravel laden terrain, a recipe for yet another fast stage. The ultimate stage of the Dakar 2019 will offer the final test to the competitors in the final loop of Pisco for a 112km special, before moving to Lima for the celebrations.

Oriol Mena (Comp No: 7): "I am happy with my stage today. It was a mass start and there were all kinds of things happening around me, like guys going in wrong directions, losing way points, engines breaking up and so on. So I decided to shut myself off and do my own race with my own rhythm and flow. One more day in the book and now only one more day to Lima."

Joaquim Rodrigues (Comp No: 27): "Hard day today, I had a crash and damaged my bike a little bit. My back is still sore from yesterday so I decided to just take it easy and bring my Hero to the finish line safely. So difficult day today but we are across the finish line today with only one more day to go."

Dakar 2019 final stage preview

2019-01-17T05:35:00.003-08:00

Dakar 2019 - Stage 10: Pisco > Lima - Liaison: 359km / 223 miles Stage: 112 km / 70 miles The last stage in the dunes of Pisco will be anything but a walk in the park for the competitors still in the race after what has been one of the toughest editions of the Dakar. The dune-heavy 112 km special will keep the leaders honest to the end!

Dakar 2019 first week footage

2019-01-15T02:21:00.000-08:00

Some footage from the first week of the 2019 Rally Raid in Peru that has not been published yet.

Also our personal observation after week 1: Not wanting to take away from the sport per se yet adding up the facts that #Dakar2019 is only in 1 country (are the other countries as Argentina, Chile, Bolivia are tired to pay millions of $'s with no tangible ROI?), barely breaks 5000km on length and has only 10 stages plus the prior the race interview with Overdrive Motorsports Racing CEO Jean Marc Fortin ( ASO "robbing participants" with high fees / https://r.sa-seo.com/JeanMarcFortin ) the Nicola Dutto story (https://youtu.be/MnR8hqv-tsY), the road-book mess ups that screwed everyone the other day and have Loeb threatening to never come back our own experience with extreme unjustified trademark bullying ASO is starting to look like a 2 bit operation instead of the world renowned organization they once were.
Paris-Dakar - as The Dakar was formerly was named - founder Thierry Sabine, he died January 14th 1986 during the raid in a helicopter crash, would flip over in his grave if he seen how much of the original Dakar spirit is left over!

Hero Motorsports Stage 6

2019-01-14T08:32:00.000-08:00

Stage 6 kicked off Sunday morning from the overnight bivouac of Camana with another 267km of liaison before it reached San Juan De Marcona, making a total run of 316 km in the special stage.Oriol Mena, who had also suffered a big crash during the stage 5, seemed determined to make it to the finish line today without another incident. He rode with caution for the day but ran out of fuel close to the finish line. His team mate, Joaquim Rodrigues, who wasn’t far behind, came to his help, and in the process, both lost some time.

For Joaquim Rodrigues, the day started well as he rode with good rhythm and was poised for a good stage finish. Despite losing some time in helping out his team mate, he managed to climb up several positions Sunday. Oriol Mena finished the stage at 20th position and JRod at 21st position, thus bringing another stage home for the team. After Sunday’s stage, Oriol Mena stands at 13th position and JRod, climbed 8 positions to break into top 20 at 20th position in the overall rankings, at the end of the stage 6.
Leaving behind the memories of one of the most chaotic stages yet, the rally moved forward into its second half with all the competitors making their way to an overnight bivouac at Camana, making a liaison of 177kms, after the half day of rest in Arequipa. The stage 6 challenged the competitors with three quarters of the special made of the sandy terrain. The highlights of the stage were the four dune sectors that were designed to cause significant gaps at the finish and bring about changes in the overall rankings.

In the present edition of the Dakar Rally, 74% of competitors managed to reach the halfway point of the rally at Arequipa - the lowest percentage since 2007. With two of the three riders still going strong, Hero MotoSports Rally finds itself in strong position as it started the second half of their Dakar campaign.

Rest day in Arequipa

2019-01-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

Rest day is actually the wrong term for the Saturday at the Dakar, as participants are not really able to rest. The race cars must be stripped down completely, given a thorough check and prepared for the second half of the race. The mechanics already started this work as soon as the cars arrived yesterday evening.The MINI JCW Buggy and MINI JCW Rally crews have a very early start tomorrow. The first car leaves the bivouac and starts the leg back to Marcona at 03:30. A total of 810 kilometers lie ahead of the drivers – 290 of them against the clock.

Everyone is waiting in great suspense to see what week two of the Dakar brings with it. Many are expecting it to be even tougher. Stéphane Peterhansel – MINI JCW Rally: “There were good points and bad points to come out of the first week. The best thing is that we are currently lying second overall. Plus, David did a very good job. Five days, and we have never gone the wrong way. On the negative side, however, I have made too many mistakes.”
Joan Nani Roma – MINI JCW Rally: “We knew how tough it would be in Peru. I think the second week will be even more tiring than the first part. It will remain exciting, right through to the finish. Anything can happen, right down to the last day.”

Ricky Brabec arrives at the rest day overall leader

2019-01-11T22:30:00.000-08:00

American Ricky Brabec arrives at the rest day of the Dakar in Arequipa, as race leader. Today the Monster Energy Honda Team rider handled the stage with intelligence after having taken command at the top of the general rankings yesterday. The second half of the 2-day marathon stage featured a mass start, motocross style line up in rows of 10 racers. Each wave, or row, of racers left the start in 5 minute gaps. The top 10 racers from yesterday started the race, including overall leader Ricky Brabec and the top seeds from KTM Toby Price, Sam Sunderland and Matthias Walkner.

In the second row at 8:05 Rockstar Husqvarna Factory teammates Pablo Quintanilla along with American rookie Skyler Howes had an advantage by following the tracks of the first wave, allowing these 3 to ignore navigation and use their natural speed to jump into the time adjusted lead by WP1.Ricky Brabec holds the first position of the rally, with 16:51’34 and Kevin Benavides is nine minutes behind in the sixth place.
Nacho Cornejo finished in seventeenth place, 13’10 seconds adrift of the leader. The Chilean rider stopped to attend Paulo Gonçalves, who had fallen at the kilometre 155 of the special sustaining a damaged right wrist. Gonçalves, with twelve Dakar participations under his belt, was forced to retire from the race. Tomorrow in Arequipa, the riders can savour a well-earned day of rest. The action restarts on Sunday with a stage that takes the entourage back to San Juan de Marcona.

Hero MotoSports Team Rally Stage 5

2019-01-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

For Hero MotoSports Team Rally, it was an emotional day as the news of crashes kept coming out from the stage. The first casualty for the team came in the form of rider C S Santosh, who suffered a nasty crash between the waypoint 4 and 5, rendering him incapable of pursuing the stage further. This unfortunate crash brought a premature end to his attempt to conquer a record 5th Dakar by an Indian. His condition is stable and he is currently being attended to by the medical team at a hospital in Tacna.

Today’s stage was quite fast with all the riders going flat out in waves of 10 in a motocross style start. The presence of fesh-fesh severely impaired the visibility for the riders coming at the back, and stones hidden away in the course of the route made it even more dangerous.

Later part of the stage action saw nearly insurmountable dunes compounding the difficulty levels for the riders. After the restday, from 13th January onwards, the rally will start backtracking the route back to Lima with stage 6 taking them back to the dusty San Juan De Marcona.

Dakar 2019

2018-09-11T03:02:00.001-07:00

The Dakar Rally will take place in only one country for the first time in its history next season, with Peru the sole host nation for the 2019 event. The route for the 41st edition of the South American event was revealed by rally organizer ASO on Friday, following the news that Chile had dropped out of a potential return at the last minute.

It comprises 10 stages and a rest day, all within Peru, starting and ending in the capital city Lima. It will begin on January 6 and finish on January 17. ASO had initially hoped for a route starting in Chile and ending in Ecuador, but was unable to reach an agreement with either country to join Peru.
Talks were also held with Bolivia before it made a late decision to withdraw as well. Rally director Etienne Lavigne is confident that, despite the lack of countries interested in hosting the Dakar, the beaches, dunes and Peruvian tracks will still attract a strong entry.

Dakar Rally Raid

2012-01-17T17:36:00.000-08:00

Dakar Rally Raid History - read here...

Nani Roma enlisted with Fortin Nissan for Dakar

2010-12-01T09:38:00.000-08:00

At the last minute, the Belgium-based team Overdrive has successfully enlisted
the services of one of cross-country rallying's most prominent drivers for next
January's Dakar. Spain's Nani Roma and his French co-driver Gilles Picard have
chosen to contest the event in a Nissan Navara prepared by the Villers-le- Bouillet based outfit.
The association means that Overdrive will have the pleasure of working with a former winner of the world's most famous rally-raid event: "We are obviously very flattered that the Spanish champion has agreed to put his confidence in us," confirms Fortin. "Our team was founded in September 2006 and here we are today with one of the discipline's best drivers about to compete in the Dakar in a vehicle prepared and run by Overdrive."
There was clearly insufficient time, however, for Roma and Picard to test drive the pick-up.

"We will organise a short run before the departure for Argentina," says Jean-Marc. "In any case, the opening stages generally aren't decisive when it comes to laying the foundations for a top result on an event such as the Dakar. Nani is a professional, just like his co-driver who, in addition to his acclaimed navigational skills, is also a first-rate mechanic.
I believe the Nissan Navara 306 can reasonably target a top-five finish. That, in any case, was our
objective this time last year, before the plan was scuppered when the car sustained a little
too much damage after taking off over a rut. It's now down to Nani and Gilles to finish off
the job we started!"
The vehicle gave a timely display of its competitiveness only recently: "Krzysztof Holowczyc and I contested the Baja Portalegre in a Nissan Navara and wrapped up the 2010 FIA World Cup," observes Jean-Marc. "Our pick-up underwent a thorough service ahead of the Portuguese event and has since been stripped and rebuilt again."
On the stages in Argentina and Chile, Roma and Picard will spearhead a line-up of four
Overdrive-run Nissan Overdrives: "Alfie Cox, who is another former top Dakar biker, is onboard again for the second year running," notes Fortin. "We will also be looking after the cars of Russia's Mirolenko and Chile's Garafulic who will be making his Dakar debut."
Extensive 2011 Dakar reporting and feedback, 2011 Dakar race maps, entries etc. at Puro Dakar Rally