FOCUS
Travelling south from Bisha, the air gets thinner and thinner as the road approaches 1,300 metres. The drop in oxygen levels is barely noticeable, but the landscape is no longer the same. Near the middle of the special, the entrants had their work cut out for them exploring the canyons and powering their way up rock-strewn sandy plateaus! The 412 km stage was a test of concentration and sand-surfing skills and, once again, no-one was able to match the rock-solid Australian Daniel Sanders. The bushes on the course left a lot of frayed nerves, but Seth Quintero stayed as cool as a cucumber to bag the car special at age 22 and add another golden page to the annals of the rally. Meanwhile, the rest of the favourites bode their time ahead of the 48 h chrono stage.
OUTLINE
- Daniel “Chucky” Sanders is giving an encore of his performance in the 2022 Dakar, where he also won the first two stages. The Australian put clear daylight between himself and the competition, pushing his closest rival in the stage, Ricky Brabec, more than two minutes down. A whopping 25 minutes now separate the leader from the tenth-placed rider!
- Ross Branch put in a solid ride to take third in the stage and the overall, but he was dismayed to learn at the finish that his Hero teammate Sebastian Bühler had exited the race after crashing and injuring his shoulder 68 kilometres into the special. · Seth Quintero had made pulling a rabbit out of his hat part of his act, but this time round, the suspense came from a different part of the theatre. The American has 20 Challenger stage wins to his name, six of which he scooped up at the tender age of 18 in 2021. Today, he crossed the finish line at the heart of the bivouac in Bisha with the second-fastest time, right behind Guerlain Chicherit. However, race officials credited him with the 95 seconds that he had spent assisting Laia Sanz after her crash. It was history in the making: never before had a 22-year-old won a stage in the premier class. Guerlain Chicherit, 46, could be the father of the two strapping young lads sharing the podium with him today. The South African Saood Variawa, 19, came in third, 1′45″ from his American teammate at Toyota.
- At first sight, the other Dakar favourites seem to be reeling from massive time losses, almost invariably finishing below 20th place, over ten minutes down. In fact, they all eased up on the accelerator to avoid having to start the 48 h chrono stage too close to the front. The only one who got carried away was Carlos Sainz, who will hit the course in eighth position tomorrow morning, making him a prime target for Al Attiyah (21st), Al Rajhi (22nd) and Loeb (25th).
- The husband-and-wife team of Nicolás Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in stage 1. Gonçalo Guerreiro, 4 seconds back, came oh-so-close for the second day in a row, after finishing second to his Red Bull Off-Road Junior stablemate Corbin Leaverton in the prologue.
- The Polaris drivers are going from strength to strength, with Xavier de Soultrait following up Brock Heger‘s triumph in the prologue with the fastest time in stage 1. What a performance it was: “Chaleco” López, second on the day, limped home with a deficit of 7′35″.
- Mitchel van den Brink has started the 2025 Dakar with a bang. Aleš Loprais and Martin Macík, touted as his two main rivals, are 1′40″ and 2′29″ adrift following stage 1.
PERFORMANCE OF THE DAY
Daniel Sanders has learnt not to go berserk. Three years ago, the man from Down Under also began the Dakar in with a spectacular one-two punch, only to crash out of the race in a road section after the rest day. “Chucky” has since gained plenty of experience, as he proved by claiming the Rallye du Maroc a few months ago. Biker no. 4 danced around the bushes and was one of the few entrants to reach the finish unscathed. The KTM rider has built up a cushion of 2′22″ over Ricky Brabec in the prologue and stage 1. More importantly, in contrast with the FIA rules, which encouraged the favourites to engage in a bit of sandbagging, the 48 h chrono stage regulations stipulate that the Rally GP riders will start tomorrow in reverse order of their results today. In other words, the hot seat was the best seat… and could end up morphing into a throne.
A CRUSHING BLOW
Rokas Baciuška could definitely have done with a sip of Felix Felicis at the beginning of the Dakar. The stars seemed to have aligned for the Lithuanian, who romped home in fourth place in the prologue in his first appearance in the rally in a Toyota Hilux. The experience of the three previous editions in the SSV and Challenger classes, in which he had never failed to make the podium, combined with three consecutive W2RC titles, pointed towards an auspicious start for the bespectacled youngster’s Ultimate adventure. However, it all went pear-shaped 310 kilometres into the special, where he misjudged the terrain, got stuck and lost his left rear wheel in a crash that put paid to his overall ambitions. Standing 2 h 20 behind Seth Quintero in Bisha, the man known as the Lithuanian Harry Potter does not have the luxury of a Time-Turner, but he intends to continue duelling with the most powerful wizards in his class, just like he did in the prologue, and perhaps even win a few points for his house before the rally draws to a close in Shubaytah.
W2RC: SEAIDAN DOWN BUT NOT OUT
Yasir Seaidan is making his first Dakar appearance in the Challenger class after securing the 2024 W2RC title in SSV. The fight for the W2RC was a war of attrition. His rivals failed to complete rounds, but so did he on two occasions out of five. The Saudi was eager to bounce back in Argentina after withdrawing from a stage in Portugal, but his turbo gave up the ghost in Córdoba in the very first stage. His lead had all but evaporated by the time that the series came to Morocco, but he hung on for dear life to claim the title by just 2 points over Nicolás Cavigliasso! His erstwhile rival won the Challenger stage today and continued on the right track to get his own back. Seaidan got a new vehicle in 2025, following in the footsteps of Rokas Baciuška, who managed to add a Challenger crown to his SSV silverware. The Saudi was convinced that this would allow him to turn the page on past disappointments, but today, steering issues forced him to take the road back to the bivouac following a failed repair attempt. His dream of winning the Dakar will have to wait. “Bad things come in threes”, said a despondent Mickael Metge, his co-driver, at the bivouac. Yet, if the 2024 season taught us anything, it is that mechanical problems are not enough to stop the Franco-Saudi duo.
STAT OF THE DAY: 4
The Dakar is a tale of families and passion handed down from one generation to the next. The Loprais, De Rooy and Mardeev families are some of the dynasties that appear time and again on the honour roll. The Van den Brink lineage is another. Martin has been one of the titans of the category for 17 seasons, counting 2025. His son Mitchel entered his first Dakar when he was 16, serving as his father’s co-driver in the final edition held in South America, back in 2019. He had to wait until he came of age to get his own hands on the steering wheel. He came in nineteenth in 2021 and scaled up to tenth place in 2022. 2023 was his breakthrough year as he became the youngest truck stage winner at the tender age of 20. In 2024, he took another stage win en route to the bottom step of the overall podium. The 47th Dakar has already doubled the size of his trophy cabinet, with the Dutchman snapping up both the prologue and stage 1. He now has four victories to his name, surpassing his father with three. He was but the learner, now he is the master!
SAUDI NEXT GEN: INTENSE SUSPENSE
The suspense and the intensity of the programme continued to increase in lockstep on the fourth day of Saudi Next Gen. The five crews continued to hone their skills on a 93 km course, which was faster than the previous one but also featured multiple stony areas where every ounce of driving experience counted. Edouardo Mossi has now got a clear idea of the strengths and weaknesses of each of his desert acolytes, but he has no idea which crew will emerge victorious from the competition. “For example, I put them in tight spots to appraise their sense of strategy. It was interesting. In terms of raw speed, our two female drivers, Fatma Banaz and Merehin Albaz, are a cut below the rest because they have less racing experience, but this also means that they have far more untapped potential.” Ladies and gentlemen, the sky is the limit!
THE MAKINGS OF A CLASSIC
What an unorthodox start to the Classic! Two favourites had sneaked out of their class to avoid a direct confrontation with their nemeses. Juan Morera was expected to pay the price, but the 2023 champion held his own and placed his Porsche 959 DKR at the top of the leader board… before following in the footsteps of his rivals and making a prudent move to the H1 class too, as the regulations allowed him to do until the evening after the prologue. As a result, the astute Carlos Santaolalla and Juan Morera jousted again today, with the title holder emerging victorious this time round. However, the René Metge replica Porsche thirsting for revenge on the 2024 production batch seems ready to go toe to toe with the “80”. A mere 7 points separate the last two winners of the Dakar Classic. In this chess boxing match, the time has come to step into the ring!
