After 23 years, a woman became a winner again in Dakar. Cristina Gutiérrez came out on top in the Challenger category in the 2024 edition, which ended this Friday. The last stage had drama: Mitchell Guthrie (Taurus Factory Team) had a comfortable lead at the start of this leg, but lost the lead and the possibility of winning.
The American was betrayed by the mechanics of his car at the 138km mark of the special stage, losing nearly three hours to Gutiérrez (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA by BFG/Taurus) – his main pursuer in the overall standings before this final leg.
The fastest was Marcelo Tiglia Gastaldi (Team BBR/Taurus), who beat Saleh Alsaif (Dark Horse Team/GRally) by 23 seconds. The Saudi was penalized by 20 seconds. Gutiérrez achieved the third best time at 1m12s, followed by Dania Akeel (Taurus Factory Team) and Rokas Baciuska (Can-Am Factory Team). The duo Mário Franco/Daniel Jordão (FrancoSport/Yamaha) performed well with the eighth best time. Guthrie finished 27th, 1h03m05s behind the top of the stage.
Gutiérrez secured the title with a 36m46s lead over Guthrie, with Baciuska closing the podium. Francisco López Contardo and Austin Jones, both from Can-Am Factory Team, finished fourth and fifth respectively. The best Portuguese was Ricardo Porém (MMP/BRP), in eighth position despite having the worst time of the day.
Top ten of Stage 12:
Top ten overall:
