Six stages and the prologue of the 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 in 47th place in the prologue. From then on, he only achieved one top ten result – he was seventh in the first stage – but he consistently ranked among the 16 fastest. The fifth stage brought the second worst result after the prologue, finishing in 45th place.
But all in all, Botterill is eighth, 1h49m31s behind the leader, Carlos Sainz (Audi), and leading among the rookies. The second of the newcomers is his teammate Saood Variawa, in 22nd place overall, about two and a half hours behind, followed by Vladas Jurkevicius (Eldorado X Humbility Sports/Toyota), who is 23rd in the general classification. The top five rookies in the cars category are completed by Stefan Carmans (CSA Racing/Red-Lined) and Cédric Goumaz (MD Rallye Sport).
