Dakar news: Brabec clings to Dakar lead as Price slips further away

Ricky Brabec now leads the Dakar Rally by exactly one second while Toby Price slipped to exactly 31 minutes behind on Stage 7 in the Bikes.

09 BRABEC Ricky (usa), Monster Energy Honda Team, Honda, Motul, Moto, FIM W2RC, action during the Stage 5 of the Dakar 2024 on January 10, 2024 between Al-Hofuf and Subaytah, Saudi Arabia — Ricky Brabec leads Dakar 2024 by a single second after Stage 7. Image: ASO/Frederic Le Floc’h/DPPI

The battle for overall supremacy tightened up not just with Hero Motosports’ Ross Branch closing the gap to Monster Energy Honda’s Brabec, but also because Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo won the 483km Riyadh-Al Duwadimi special to move to 6:48s off top spot.

On another factory Honda, Adrien Van Beveren went the other way, dropping to fourth at 14:39s off the pace, with Red Bull KTM’s Kevin Benavides back up to fifth but still 21:39s away from the lead.

For Price, after making inroads on each of the previous two stages, the goal of a third Dakar crown just became that much more difficult to pull off as the Red Bull KTM rider dropped to sixth overall.

Fellow Australian Daniel Sanders retains seventh but at a slightly enlarged deficit of 27:41s relative to top spot.

Following the rest day, 873km of riding awaited competitors on Stage 7, with a special which began in the canyons before moving into sand dunes.

Pablo Quintanilla, already out of contention for the event victory after running out of fuel on the 48-hour stage, was the day’s early leader.

However, he then dumped another hour of time when his Monster Energy Honda struck mechanical dramas at 112km in.

From there, the battle for stage honours became a two-way fight between Cornejo and Kevin Benavides, with the former prevailing by 32 seconds over the latter.

Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Luciano Benavides finished 3:12s behind in third while Branch lost touch over the course of the special as he set the fourth-fastest time.

In the end, with the help of opener bonuses, Brabec did just enough in taking fifth for the special to hold onto his overall lead, by the slimmest of margins.

Sanders was sixth-quickest on the day and Price eighth-, despite the latter scooping almost four minutes’ worth of opener bonuses.

Five stages remain in Dakar 2024, the next taking the field to Ha’il, with a mixture of sand and stones laying in wait.

General classification: Bikes Top 10

Pos	Num	Nat	Rider	Team	Time	Gap
1	9	USA	RICKY BRABEC	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM	32H 37′ 20”
2	46	BOT	ROSS BRANCH	HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY	32H 37′ 21”	+ 00H 00′ 01”
3	11	CHI	JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM	32H 44′ 08”	+ 00H 06′ 48”
4	42	FRA	ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN	MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM	32H 51′ 59”	+ 00H 14′ 39”
5	47	ARG	KEVIN BENAVIDES	RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING	32H 58′ 59”	+ 00H 21′ 39”
6	2	AUS	TOBY PRICE	RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING	33H 08′ 20”	+ 00H 31′ 00”
7	5	AUS	DANIEL SANDERS	RED BULL GASGAS FACTORY RACING	33H 15′ 01”	+ 00H 37′ 41”
8	1	ARG	LUCIANO BENAVIDES	HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING	33H 20′ 32”	+ 00H 43′ 12”
9	142	SVK	STEFAN SVITKO	SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM	33H 47′ 53”	+ 01H 10′ 33”
10	23	CZE	MARTIN MICHEK	ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP	34H 20′ 41”	+ 01H 43′ 21”