Six stages and the prologue of Dakar 2024 have passed and at this moment the best of the rookies is Guy David Botterill. He is in eighth position, in a debut that is going well so far.
In this first week, the Toyota driver didn’t start particularly well, finishing 47th in the prologue. From then on, he only achieved one top ten result – seventh in the first stage – but consistently stayed among the 16 fastest. The fifth stage brought the second worst result after the prologue, 45th.
But all in all, Botterill is eighth, 1h49m31s behind the leader, Carlos Sainz (Audi), and leads among the rookies. The second of the newcomers is his teammate Saood Variawa, in 22nd overall, about two and a half hours behind, followed by Vladas Jurkevicius (Eldorado X Humbility Sports/Toyota) in 23rd place overall. The top five rookies in the car category are completed by Stefan Carmans (CSA Racing/Red-Lined) and Cédric Goumaz (MD Rallye Sport).
