The sixth stage of the Dakar 2024, which lasted for two days without assistance from the teams, was a real challenge for the drivers and machines. More than a dozen competitors in the four-wheel category officially abandoned, and others were irreparably delayed – including some of the most renowned pilots.
In the main category, T1U, the former leader Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing/Toyota) could not avoid abandoning due to an incident suffered on the first day of the stage – held yesterday, with Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi) also losing a lot of time. This Friday, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Nasser Racing/Prodrive Hunter) saw a steering arm of his car give way and lost over two hours to his direct rivals, being out of the fight for victory.
Thomas de Bois (Coronel Dakar Team/Century) and François Yoann (Ycmcn.com/Constant) abandoned the race, as well as Vaidotas Zala – navigated by Paulo Fiúza in a MINI from the X-Raid Arijus Team. The Portuguese-Lithuanian duo was fighting for a top ten overall position before this stage of great difficulties.
In the Challenger category, Marek Goczal (Energylandia Rally Team/Taurus) withdrew from the second position, which helped his teammate Eryk Goczal to have a lead of over one hour at the top. The SSVs did not have any significant withdrawals, but the classification had a turnaround at the top positions: the former leader, Jérôme de Sadeleer (MMP/BRP), dropped to fifth, while his teammate Yasir Seaidan climbed from fourth to first, in one of the many changes in the advanced area of the classification. Another involved João Ferreira (Can-Am Factory Team), with the Portuguese driver moving up from seventh to fourth.
In the trucks category, no top driver was left out, but the former leader Janus van Kasteren (Boss Machinery Team de Rooy FTP/Iveco) lost over two hours and dropped to fourth. Martin Macik (MM Technology Team/Iveco) took advantage of this, with a overwhelming performance, leaving the 48-hour stage with a lead of over one hour. Ales Loprais (Instaforex Loprais Praga) and Mitchel van den Brink (Eurol Rallysport/Iveco) also capitalized on van Kasteren’s problems to position themselves on the podium.
