YANBU, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Driver Nasser Al-Attiyah and rider Ricky Brabec are set to win the Dakar Rally after dominating their closest pursuers in the Saudi desert on Friday.
Both of them won the 311-kilometer 12th and penultimate stage between Al Henakiyah and Yanbu, the rally starting point on the Red Sea coast two weeks ago.
The second stage win for both in this Dakar gave them overall leads — extended in Al-Attiyah’s case — that are ample enough to secure a sixth car title for Al-Attiyah and third motorbike crown for Brabec, barring major mishaps.
Al-Attiyah’s Dacia was 15 minutes up on Nani Roma’s Ford and Brabec’s Honda was three-plus minutes up on Luciano Benavides’ KTM going into the 13th and final stage on Saturday, a 108-kilometer dash outside Yanbu.
Al-Attiyah didn’t have to risk anything on Friday. He started with an overall lead of eight-plus minutes and improved it in the first 100 kilometers beyond 10 minutes. The masterful stage victory was the 50th of his career, tying the car record with Ari Vatanen and Stéphane Peterhansel.
Roma started 11th in the stage and ahead of Al-Attiyah, and Romain Dumas waited 30 minutes for the Spaniard to support him but Roma couldn’t turn it into an advantage. He was eighth behind Al-Attiyah but after the stage Dumas gave Roma his front axle unit so he could reach the bivouac without penalty.
Mitch Guthrie’s Ford was second, a minute back. Mattias Ekström’s Ford was third, opening the way from start to finish and overtaking Sébastien Loeb’s Dacia overall to grab third place by 29 seconds.
Brabec gamble pays off
Brabec turned a 23-second deficit to overnight leader Benavides into a decisive overall lead of 3 minutes, 20 seconds.
Brabec set it up on Thursday to start the special from sixth on Friday, two places behind Benavides, with the benefit of gauging their relative progress and follow tracks without having to navigate.
He wiped out Benavides’ overnight lead within the first 80 kilometers. Benavides chose to catch the stage pacesetters and took over opening the way after about 120 kilometers and collected time bonuses. But the effort to clear the way and slow down to stay on track played into Brabec’s hands.
Brabec should add this Dakar to his previous wins in 2020 and 2024 and become the seventh man to win at least three motorbike crowns. The record is six by Peterhansel from 1991-98 when the race was in Africa.
Benavides still believed he can win. His brother Kevin Benavides did it in 2023 but he trailed Toby Price by only 12 seconds.
“We keep the hope alive until the last kilometer,” Luciano said. “It’s gonna be hard for sure.”
Brabec could almost taste the win.
“Tomorrow is supposed to be ‘easy’ they say, and if I open and do a good job I should get a minute and a half in bonus time,” he said. “We’ll see.”
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