2024 Dakar Classic: Carlos Santaolalla breaks through in Classic domination

Carlos Sainz was not the only Spaniard named Carlos to win at the 2024 Dakar Rally.

After missing out on the 2023 Dakar Classic when Juan Morera beat him by 101 points, Carlos Santaolalla was the top performer in the 2024 edition as he won seven of twelve stages. However, he still had to fend off Lorenzo Traglio, who claimed three stages, and ultimately pulled it off by just twelve points.

Santaolalla arrived in Saudi Arabia on a rather last minute schedule after his 2023 navigator Aran Sol I Juanola opted to run the main Dakar Rally in a Challenger car with Antonio Garcia Coma. Jan Rosa Viñas took over as Santaolalla’s partner in their Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80, which had been sitting in a garage since March after repairing a fuel pump that ruined his hopes of winning the previous year.

The son of former Dakar mechanic Maurizio Traglio, Traglio’s Nissan Pathfinder set the tone early by winning the opening stage but finished sixth the following day to boost Santaolalla to the top spot. Santaolalla held the throne for most of the race, only briefly losing it twice when he finished runner-up to Ondřej Klymčiw in Stage #5 followed by a dismal Stage #8 where he finished eighteenth. Traglio capitalised on the latter to take the lead only to surrender it again the next day.

Morera switched from his Land Cruiser to a Porsche 959 designed to resemble the late René Metge‘s Porsche that won the 1986 Paris–Dakar Rally. He won the Prologue and Stage #2 but his car took a beating in the dunes, bottoming out when he finished thirty-third in Stage #3. His team-mate Frédéric Larre did not have much luck either, having to retire from Stage #1 after the rear trailing arm.

Porsche problems also extended to the Porsche 924s of P-Rally Team. Stage #3 was particularly disastrous as Tomasz Staniszewski‘s engine mount broke while Łukasz Zoll retired with a slate of electrical failures. Staniszewski skipped Stage #6 due to rear suspension damage the previous day; Janus van Kasteren Sr.‘s DAF Bull towed him to the finish.

Altough Klymčiw led the overall after Stage #8, a string of poor finishes dropped him out of the top twenty.

Croatian rally star Juraj Šebalj scored a top ten in his maiden Dakar Classic. Also from the rally world, former WRC navigator Jorge Pérez Companc, who previously raced the Dakar Rally as co-driver for his brother Luis, suffered a mechanical issue halfway through that spoiled a top-fifteen effort.

Rafael Lesmes was the highest finishing truck in ninth, racing a pink Mercedes-Benz 1844 after previously contesting the Dakar Rally in a Challenger car. On the other hand, the hydrogen-powered MAN truck of Alexandre Lemeray rolled over in Stage #4 and had to be flipped back by another truck piltoed by Jaime Martinez Canteli.

It is perhaps to be expected that the Saudi desert, which was already brutal enough for the main Dakar Rally, also took their toll on Classic vehicles, all of which were built prior to 1999 even if they were former Dakar challengers themselves. Michel Blanc‘s Renault 4L, reconstructed from a police car to resemble Claude and Bernard Marreau’s Renault Sinpar that finished third in 1980, lost its right rear wheel during the Chrono Stage which left Blanc and co-driver Frédéric Benedetti stranded in the desert before they got it repaired; the car then ended up on a flatbed three stages later. Nevertheless, he managed to reach the finish, an achievement that seven others were unable to mirror.

Unlike the Dakar Rally, the Dakar Classic is a regularity-based race that uses points instead of times.

Dakar Classic overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Group	Total Points	Margin
1	768	Carlos Santaolalla	Jan Rosa Viñas	Factory Tub	H2.B	820 points	Leader
2	702	Lorenzo Traglio	Rudy Briani	Tecnosport	H3.C	832 points	+ 12 points
3	701	Paolo Bedeschi	Daniele Bottallo	Tecnosport	H3.B	1,061 points	+ 241 points
4	703	Dirk van Rompuy	Luis Barbero Garcia	VR Racing by TH-Trucks Team	H2.B	1,646 points	+ 826 points
5	764	Maxence Gublin	Anthony Sousa	Bolides Racing	H2.B	1,877 points	+ 1,057 points
6	700	Juan Morera	Lidia Ruba	Momabikes Raid Team	H2.B	1,909 points	+ 1,089 points
7	761	Marco Ernesto Leva	Alexia Giugni	R Team	H2.B	2,464 points	+ 1,644 points
8	767	Amadeo Roige Bragulat	Jorge Toral	Pedrega Team	H2.B	3,134 points	+ 2,314 points
9	911	Rafael Lesmes	Jose Luis Ruano Garcia, Tabatha Romon	Dakar Por La Vida	H1T.B	3,455 points	+ 2,635 points
10	728	Juraj Šebalj	Ivan Vidaković	Tecnosport	H2.B	3,670 points	+ 2,850 points
11	755	Jörg Sand	Patrick Diemer	Völkel Dakar Team	H2.A	3,810 points	+ 2,990 points
12	750	Mathieu Kurzen	Alexandre Fatio	Geco Classic Racing Team	H1.B	4,074 points	+ 3,254 points
13	743	Thierry Valtat	Guillaume Gelée	La Compagnie Saharienne	H1.B	4,778 points	+ 3,958 points
14	719	Filippo Colnaghi	Stefano Davide Fabiano	Tecnosport	H2.B	5,681 points	+ 4,861 points
15	704	Pascal Lebrun	Sébastien Dubois	Team Cap179	H2.B	5,811 points	+ 4,991 points
16	906	Corrado Pattono	Piermarco Acerni, Gianluca Ianni	Mototecnica Racing Team	H2T.C	5,819 points	+ 4,999 points
17	705	Francisco Benavente	Rafael Benavente Del Rio	Recinsa Sport	H2.B	6,172 points	+ 5,352 points
18	759	Frédéric Larre	Jérémy Athimon	Nantes Prestige Autos	H2.B	6,190 points	+ 5,370 points
19	913	Jaime Martinez Canteli	Nekane Abin Bardeci, Santiago Díaz de Cerio	TH-Trucks Team	H1T.B	6,927 points	+ 6,107 points
20	730	François Abrial	Cecile Abrial	Team SSP	H2.B	7,371 points	+ 6,551 points
21	745	Dominique Durand	Raphael Vial	Team SSP	H2.B	7,442 points	+ 6,622 points
22	723	François-Xavier Bourgois	Patrice Auzet	Team Boucou Assistance	H3.A	7,552 points	+ 6,732 points
23	736	Michał Horodeński	Arkadiusz Sałaciński	Toyota Team Classic	H3.B	6,553 points	+ 6,733 points
24	714	Ondřej Klymčiw	Josef Broz	Klymčiw Racing	H2.B	7,609 points	+ 6,789 points
25	902	Frank Puchouau	Enric Segura, Dorian Bardeau	Team Boucou Competition	H2T.C	8,113 points	+ 7,293 points
26	747	Teddy Delmonico	Florian Garnier	TFSL Racing	H4.C	8,408 points	+ 7,588 points
27	766	Michaël Denis	Philippe Garabeuf	La Compagnie Saharienne	H1.B	8,413 points	+ 7,593 points
28	727	Giulio Bertolli	Renato Rickler	R Team	H2.B	9,418 points	+ 8,598 points
29	744	Andrew Graham	Gavin Neate	Allisport	H2.A	9,842 points	+ 9,022 points
30	740	Matías Rodríguez Martín	Sandra Guasch Planells	BXS Motorsport	H1.B	10,295 points	+ 9,475 points
31	729	Lionel Guy	Johnny Mauduit	CapÔsuD	H2.B	11,598 points	+ 10,778 points
32	766	Michaël Denis	Philippe Garabeuf	La Compagnie Saharienne	H1.B	12,526 points	+ 11,706 points
33	915	Alexandre Lemeray	Fabien Lecaplain, Jean-Baptiste Lecot	Team HoleShot Compétition	H1T.C	12,864 points	+ 12,044 points
34	735	Herve Solandt	Brice Laborie-Brondino	RSO	H2.B	13,025 points	+ 12,205 points
35	738	Jaap Bolk	Twan Vollebregt	Bolk Dakar Rally Team	H4.C	14,567 points	+ 13,747 points
36	722	Andrea Belometti	Luigi Derossi	Desert Endurance Motorsport	H3.C	14,796 points	+ 13,975 points
37	760	Olivier Delrieu	Christophe Chabeuf	La Compagnie Saharienne	H1.B	15,203 points	+ 14,383 points
38	710	Stefano Calzi	Umberto Fiori	Motortecnica Racing Team	H4.B	15,652 points	+ 14,832 points
39	757	Daniel Vetter	Anton Frutiger	Desert Cruiser	H3.C	16,951 points	+ 16,131 points
40	734	Stefano Sinibaldi	Simona Morosi	R Team	H3.C	18,895 points	+ 18,075 points
41	724	Paulo Sergio da Silva Oliveira	Arcelio Couto	TH-Trucks Team	H2.B	20,119 points	+19,299 points
42	718	Luciano Carcheri	Fabrizia Pons	Tecnosport	H1.B	20,271 points	+ 19,451 points
43	737	Tomasz Staniszewski	Stanisław Postawka	P-Rally Team	H2.A	20,378 points	+ 19,558 points
44	739	Daniel Albero Puig	Jose Luis Serra Roca	Team Un Diabético en el Dakar	H3.C	20,733 points	+ 19,913 points
45	741	Damiano Lipani	Stefano Crementieri	R Team	H3.C	21,356 points	+ 20,536 points
46	754	Sergi Fernández García	Pablo Benavente	Pedrega Team	H3.C	21,986 points	+ 21,166 points
47	717	Maximilian Loder	Laurence Loder	Völkel Dakar Team	H2.A	22,275 points	+ 21,455 points
48	742	Katherine Lovemore	Stephen Lovemore	Dreamy & The Pap Snoek	H1.B	22,932 points	+ 22,112 points
49	751	Stéphane Docher	Lionel Balandreaud	TFSL Racing	H3.B	24,497 points	+ 23,677 points
50	708	Puck Klaassen	Sebastiaan Klaassen	Nantes Prestige Autos	H2.A	25,161 points	+ 24,341 points
51	908	Christian Ruppert	Ursula Ruppert, Matias Ruppert	Ruppert Motorsport	H1T.B	25,621 points	+ 24,801 points
52	746	Ugo Bullesi	Myriam Manzoni	Befuel Bombelli Team	H3.B	25,635 points	+ 24,815 points
53	753	Adriaan Botma	Riaan Botma	Midstream Oil	H3.B	25,641 points	+ 24,821 points
54	709	Łukasz Zoll	Michal Zoll	DEXT P-Rally Team	H2.A	28,201 points	+ 27,381 points
55	733	Panos Meyer	Martin Bendig-Kreutzer	Völkel Dakar Team	H2.A	30,558 points	+ 29,738 points
56	762	Jan Vins	Tomáš Hovorka	Enjoy Motorsport	H2.B	31,212 points	+ 30,392 points
57	903	Janus van Kasteren Sr.	Toine Verkooijen, Herman Keijsers	Classic Team de Rooy	H2T.B	31,584 points	+ 30,764 points
58	910	Giuseppe Simonato	Alessio Bentivoglio, Monica Buonamano	Tecnosport	H2T.B	31,624 points	+ 30,804 points
59	711	Asier Duarte Rodríguez	Raquel Arranz	TH-Trucks Team	H2.B	31,662 points	+ 30,842 points
60	904	Ermanno De Angelis	Annunziata Del Gaudio, Andreas Cadei	Desert Endurance Motorsport	H2T.B	31,986 points	+ 31,166 points
61	715	Joao Antonio de Almeida e Sousa Costa	Luís Miguel Gonçalves	TH-Trucks Team	H2.B	35,400 points	+ 34,580 points
62	901	Pierre-Louis Quemin	Olivier Guillory, Antoine Margall	Team SSP	H2T.B	35,698 points	+ 34,878 points
63	712	Barbora Holická	Lucie Engová	Czech Samurais	H1.A	36,428 points	+ 35,608 points
64	900	Marco Giannecchini	Luca Macrini, Alexandre Manuel Azenha de Freitas	R Team	H1T.B	38,105 points	+ 37,285 points
65	720	Michel Blanc	Frédéric Benedetti	4lpine Retro	H1.A	42,691 points	+ 41,871 points
66	756	Stefano Picasso	Gianluca Biondi	Desert Endurance Motorsport	H1.B	44,599 points	+ 43,779 points
67	905	Ignacio Corcuera	David Naveira, Fernando Garcia Sagasta	Euskadi 4×4	H1T.A	46,761 points	+ 45,941 points
68	912	Daniel Schatz	Goerg Gattinger, Fabian Stauner	Völkel Dakar Team	H1T.A	50,547 points	+ 49,727 points
69	716	Dominik Ben	Katarzyna Malicka	Coco Loco	H3.C	54,401 points	+ 53,581 points
70	907	Thomas Wolthaus	Bastian Klausing, Lina van de Mars	Völkel Dakar Team	H1T.A	55,520 points	+ 54,700 points
71	758	Frank Uwe Juergen Thiel	Hartmut Weigelt	Montana Racing	H2.B	56,600 points	+ 55,780 points
DNF	721	Vincent Gonzalez	Albert Casabona Vilaseca	TH-Trucks Team	H3.C	DNF	N/A
DNF	725	Pieter Peerlings	Sam Teugels	924 Turbo Team	H3.A	DNF	N/A
DNF	731	Marcel Quiros	Joan Cairó i Ferrer	BXS Motorsport	H1.B	DNF	N/A
DNF	748	Giuliano Bergo	Robert Blaas	R Team	H3.C	DNF	N/A
DNF	749	Jorge Pérez Companc	Jose Maria Volta	Madpanda Motorsport	H3.B	DNF	N/A
DNF	752	Georges Garcia	François Beziac	Chancellor Team New Zealand	H2.B	DNF	N/A
DNF	763	Giorgio Ciresola	Ziga Colja	Desert Endurance Motorsport	H3.C	DNF	N/A

Dakar Classic stage winners

Stage	Driver	Points
Prologue	Juan Morera	3 points
Stage #1	Lorenzo Traglio	38 points
Stage #2	Juan Morera	15 points
Stage #3	Carlos Santaolalla	49 points
Stage #4	Carlos Santaolalla	24 points
Stage #5	Ondřej Klymčiw	21 points
Stage #6	Carlos Santaolalla	92 points
Stage #7	Carlos Santaolalla	32 points
Stage #8	Lorenzo Traglio	67 points
Stage #9	Carlos Santaolalla	43 points
Stage #10	Carlos Santaolalla	31 points
Stage #11	Lorenzo Traglio	9 points
Stage #12	Carlos Santaolalla	15 points