2024 Dakar Rally: Carlos Sainz consistent en route to 4th Dakar

Before the start of the 2024 Dakar Rally, twice reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah proclaimed he would “give them just three days” before Team Audi Sport retired from the race, citing their mechanical failures and other setbacks that plagued them throughout 2023. Ironically, it was Al-Attiyah who watched from the distance as Audi drove off to victory led by Carlos Sainz, who scored his fourth career Dakar.

Al-Attiyah entered the Dakar looking to be the third driver to score three consecutive Dakar wins, joining Ari Vatanen (1989 to 1991) and Pierre Lartigue (1994 to 1996). However, despite already having a Baja win for Prodrive, his Hunter struggled with mechanical issues and his lone stage win came after team-mate Sébastien Loeb opted to sandbag for a better starting position in the following day’s Chrono Stage. Over the next few days, Al-Attiyah’s race unravelled with more vehicle trouble such as a steering failure and his engine blowing up. He retired from the Dakar for the first time since 2017, his first year at Toyota.

Loeb was the closest competition to Sainz as he won a race-high five stages, but blinked in their staring contest when his suspension broke on the penultimate day. This dropped him to over an hour and a half behind Sainz as the Toyota of Guillaume de Mévius moved up to second, though the latter was also too far back to catch Sainz.

After Sainz’s Audi colleagues Mattias Ekström and Stéphane Peterhansel both experienced mechanical problems that prevented them from contending for the win, they elected to accompany their team-mate over the final stages to provide assistance should something arise. This came in handy during Stage #10 when Sainz suffered a streak of tyre punctures only for his partners to show up and save the day.

While he didn’t win a stage, Sainz scored his fourth Dakar after previous triumphs in 2010, 2018, and 2020; he also won the 2008 Central Europe Rally that replaced that year’s Dakar. Audi’s swan song campaign also begins on a strong note as they notched the first Dakar overall victory for an electric vehicle and their second World Rally-Raid Championship win (after Peterhansel at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge) as they plan to close their rally raid programme after 2024 to focus on Formula One. Sainz’s post-Audi future is not certain either, especially as he stated last April that his final major career goal was to win a fourth Dakar for as many manufacturers—having previously claimed the 2010 race for Volkswagen, 2018 for Peugeot, and 2020 for Mini—though there have been reports that he would join Ford for 2025.

“This victory means a lot to me. It’s my fourth victory with the fourth different brand,” said Sainz. “The team has developed a very special concept with which we are the first in the Dakar Rally. Only Audi was brave enough to take this risk. I’m happy that we’ve made history with it, and in one of the toughest editions of this rally that I have experienced. My family is here, as is the whole Audi family.”

De Mévius and team-mate Guerlain Chicherit carried the defending manufacturer’s champion Toyota as they respectively finished second and fourth. Due to Loeb not competing for points, Chicherit moves up to third on the W2RC podium. Fellow Hilux Giniel de Villiers was seventh to break a tie with Yoshimasa Sugawara for the longest finishing streak at twenty-one; incidentally, Sugawara was concurrently competing in the ‘real’ rally to Dakar at the Africa Eco Race, where he also reached the finish.

Yazeed Al-Rajhi, the 2023 championship runner-up, looked like the top Toyota driver following Al-Attiyah’s departure as he led the overall for three stages but retired after rolling on the first day of the Chrono Stage.

Although he and his fellow 4×2 entries in the T1.2 subcategory are often outclassed by T1+, Mathieu Serradori impressed with a third in Stage #9 en route to a top-ten overall finish. He ran as high as fifth before a suspension failure in Stage #11 dropped him to tenth. His run topped a tumultuous rally for the twelve cars built by Century Racing, with a particular lowlight being their new CR7-T piloted by Brian Baragwanath and Urvo Männama having to sit out two days due to a critical suspension issue that required parts to be shipped in from South Africa; Männama’s race then came to an end when his car caught fire overnight prior to Stage #8.

Other teams also underwent trials by fire for their new vehicles or drivers. Wei Han and Red-Lined Motorsport co-developed a new T1+ car that dropped out on the Chrono Stage; Red-Lined’s REVO T1+ finished twenty-fifth with Aliyyah Koloc, having a slight setback with a front axle manufacturing defect in Stage #2 but otherwise stayed out of trouble. A privateer-friendly version of the Hilux T1+ built by WCT Engineering and piloted by Hennie de Klerk bowed out due to multiple driveshaft failures. At Mini, reigning FIA European Baja Cup champion Krzysztof Hołowczyc‘s first Dakar since 2015 was ruined by a pair of crashes while team newcomer Pau Navarro broke his wrist in a rollover. M-Sport Ford’s Dakar début saw Nani Roma and Gareth Woolridge both retire on the eighth day, though both managed to reach the finish.

Ultimate overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Class	Time	Margin
1	204	Carlos Sainz	Lucas Cruz	Team Audi Sport	T1.U	48:15:18	Leader
2	221	Guillaume de Mévius	Xavier Panseri	Overdrive Racing	T1+	49:35:34	+ 1:20:25
3	203	Sébastien Loeb*	Fabian Lurquin	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	T1+	49:44:30	+ 1:29:12
4	211	Guerlain Chicherit	Alex Winocq	Overdrive Racing	T1+	49:51:17	+ 1:35:59
5	208	Martin Prokop	Viktor Chytka	ORLEN Jipocar Team	T1+	50:32:01	+ 2:16:43
6	243	Guy Botterill*	Brett Cummings	Toyota Gazoo Racing	T1+	50:55:51	+ 2:40:33
7	209	Giniel de Villiers*	Dennis Murphy	Toyota Gazoo Racing	T1+	51:05:44	+ 2:50:26
8	223	Benediktas Vanagas*	Kuldar Sikk	Toyota Gazoo Racing Baltics	T1+	51:12:35	+ 2:57:17
9	206	Lucas Moraes	Armand Monleón	Toyota Gazoo Racing	T1+	51:18:30	+ 3:04:12
10	212	Mathieu Serradori	Loïc Minaudier	Serradori Racing Team	T1.2	51:19:30	+ 3:04:12
11	215	Denis Krotov	Konstantin Zhiltsov	Overdrive Racing	T1+	51:54:31	+ 3:39:13
12	220	Christian Lavieille*	Valentin Sarreaud	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	52:36:09	+ 4:20:51
13	245	Cristian Baumgart	Alberto Andreotti	X Rally Team	T1+	52:37:17	+ 4:21:59
14	231	Romain Dumas*	Max Delfino	Rebellion Racing	T1+	52:48:29	+ 4:33:11
15	238	Laia Sanz*	Maurizio Gerini	Astara Team	T1.2	53:09:04	+ 4:53:46
16	226	Saood Variawa	François Cazalet	Toyota Gazoo Racing	T1+	54:09:59	+ 5:54:41
17	228	Jérôme Pélichet*	Pascal Larroque	RaidLynx	T1.2	54:51:14	+ 6:35:56
18	205	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveiras	Overdrive Racing	T1+	57:41:00	+ 9:25:42
19	236	Ronan Chabot*	Gilles Pillot	Overdrive Racing	T1+	58:38:40	+ 10:23:22
20	229	Lionel Baud	Lucie Baud	Overdrive Racing	T1+	59:17:26	+ 11:02:08
21	257	François Cousin*	Stéphane Cousin	Compagnie des Dunes	T1.2	59:59:41	+ 11:44:23
22	237	Tim Coronel*	Tom Coronel	Coronel Dakar Team	T1.2	61:35:43	+ 13:20:25
23	273	Karel Trneny*	Michal Ernst	Workoutland ACCR Czech Team	T1+	62:14:51	+ 13:59:33
24	260	Andrea Schiumarini*	Andrea Succi	TH-Trucks Team	T1.2	62:18:20	+ 14:03:02
25	239	Aliyyah Koloc	Sébastien Delaunay	Buggyra ZM Racing	T1+	62:24:51	+ 14:09:33
26	207	Mattias Ekström	Emil Bergkvist	Team Audi Sport	T1.U	63:34:57	+ 15:19:39
27	261	Benoit Fretin*	Cédric Duple	YDEO Competition	T1.2	63:48:20	+ 15:33:02
28	259	Gintas Petrus*	Jose Marques	Petrus Racing	T1.2	64:29:22	+ 16:14:04
29	264	Maik Willems*	Robert Van Pelt	Bastion Hotels Dakar Team	T1+	64:58:30	+ 16:43:12
30	202	Stéphane Peterhansel	Édouard Boulanger	Team Audi Sport	T1.U	65:40:30	+ 17:25:12
31	227	Eugenio Amos	Paolo Ceci	Overdrive Racing	T1+	65:56:36	+ 17:41:18
32	251	Alexandre Pesci*	Stephan Kuhni	Rebellion Racing	T1+	68:03:59	+ 19:48:41
33	272	Jean-Philippe Beziat*	Vincent Albira	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	68:1501	+ 19:59:43
34	268	Stefan Carmans*	Antonius van Tiel	CSA Racing	T1+	69:42:47	+ 21:27:29
35	266	Cedric Goumaz*	Pascal Delacour	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	73:24:32	+ 25:09:14
36	235	Isidre Esteve*	José Maria Villalobos Valcarcel	Repsol Toyota Rally Team	T1+	78:23:07	+ 30:07:49
37	254	Zi Yungang*	Hong Yu Pan	YunXiang Racing	T1+	96:52:01	+ 48:36:43
38	219	Brian Baragwanath*	Leonard Cremer	Century Racing	T1+	104:40:28	+ 56:25:10
39	248	Tomáš Ouředníček*	David Křípal	Toyota Gazoo Racing Czech	T1+	111:32:29	+ 63:17:11
40	234	Jean-Rémy Bergounhe*	Lionel Costes	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	111:37:14	+ 63:21:56
41	241	Jean-Luc Ceccaldi	Thomas Gaidella	JLC Racing	T1.2	112:16:56	+ 64:01:38
42	216	Seth Quintero	Dennis Zenz	Toyota Gazoo Racing	T1+	117:20:01	+ 69:04:43
43	256	Xiangyan Sun*	Yu Tian	HanWei Motorsport	T1.2	122:57:54	+ 74:42:36
44	210	Nani Roma*	Alex Haro Bravo	Ford M-Sport	T1+	130:32:18	+ 82:17:00
45	274	Magdalena Zajac*	Jacek Czachor	Proxcars TME Rally Team	T1.1	133:14:17	+ 84:58:59
46	225	Gareth Woolridge*	Boyd Dreyer	Ford M-Sport	T1+	135:12:23	+ 87:08:55
47	217	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	Łukasz Kurzeja	X-raid Mini JCW Team	T1+	137:12:03	+ 88:56:45
48	232	Pascal Thomasse*	Arnold Brucy	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	141:43:17	+ 93:27:59
49	240	Vladas Jurkevičius*	Aisvydas Paliukėnas	Atlantis Racing	T1+	143:04:41	+ 94:49:23
50	267	Jérôme Cambier*	Philippe Gosselin	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	152:12:46	+ 103:57:28
51	255	Dominique Housieaux*	Delphine Delfino	Serradori Racing Team	T1.2	155:24:14	+ 107:08:56
52	214	Vaidotas Žala*	Paulo Fiuza	X-raid Arijus Team	T1+	158:23:03	+ 110:07:45
DNF	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Mathieu Baumel	Nasser Racing	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	201	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Timo Gottschalk	Overdrive Racing	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	218	Wei Han*	Li Ma	HanWei Motorsport	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	222	Simon Vitse*	Frédéric Lefebvre	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	230	Pau Navarro	Gonçalo Reis	X-raid Mini JCW Team	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	242	Marcos Baumgart	Kleber Cincea	X Rally Team	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	244	Jean-Pierre Strugo*	Christophe Crespo	MD Rallye Sport	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	246	Frédéric Chesneau*	Lionel Romanin	Skybox Rally-Raid	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	247	Michel Kremer*	Thomas de Bois	Coronel Dakar Team	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	249	Feilong Liu*	Wang Yicheng	YunXiang Racing	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	250	Urvo Männama*	Risto Lepik	Rally Raid Estonia	T1	DNF	N/A
DNF	252	Ping Sun*	Min Liao	YunXiang Racing	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	253	Philippe Boutron*	Franck Maldonado	Sodicars Racing	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	258	Hennie de Klerk*	Juan Möhr	TreasuryONE Motorsport	T1+	DNF	N/A
DNF	262	Patricia Pita Gago*	Paolo Boggioni	Astara Team	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	269	Antoine Delaporte*	Yoann François	Off Road Concept	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	270	Patrice Étienne*	Antoine Sanchez	YDEO Competition	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	271	Silvio Totani*	Tito Totani	Motortechnica Racing Team	T1.1	DNF	N/A

Ultimate stage winners

Stage	Driver	Time
Prologue	Mattias Ekström	16:30.9
Stage #1	Guillaume de Mévius	4:35:59
Stage #2	Stéphane Peterhansel	3:54:40
Stage #3	Lucas Moraes	4:14:51
Stage #4	Sébastien Loeb*	2:36:02
Stage #5	Nasser Al-Attiyah	1:37:25
Stage #6	Sébastien Loeb*	7:21:56
Stage #7	Sébastien Loeb*	4:56:39
Stage #8	Mattias Ekström	3:17:15
Stage #9	Sébastien Loeb*	4:17:33
Stage #10	Guerlain Chicherit	3:19:27
Stage #11	Guerlain Chicherit	4:43:00
Stage #12	Sébastien Loeb*	1:39:41

W2RC standings

Unlike Challenger and SSV, Ultimate does not have its own class-specific trophy and instead has a single championship where drivers from all three points-paying categories are eligible.

For readability, competitors registered for the championship who have yet to earn points are not listed.

Drivers’ standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Carlos Sainz	76	Leader
2	Guillaume de Mévius	58	– 18
3	Guerlain Chicherit	56	– 20
4	Lucas Moraes	40	– 36
5	Mathieu Serradori	32	– 44
6	Martin Prokop	27	– 49
T-7	Nasser Al-Attiyah	18	– 58
T-7	Denis Krotov	18	– 58
9	Cristian Baumgart	16	– 60
10	Mattias Ekström	15	– 61
T-11	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	14	– 62
T-11	Saood Variawa	14	– 62
13	Stéphane Peterhansel	13	– 63
T-14	Mitch Guthrie	11	– 65
T-14	Juan Cruz Yacopini	11	– 65
16	Rokas Baciuška	9	– 67
17	Austin Jones	7	– 69
T-18	Yasir Seaidan	5	– 71
T-18	Seth Quintero	5	– 71
T-20	Sara Price	4	– 72
T-20	Eugenio Amos	4	– 72
22	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	3	– 73

Co-drivers’ standings

Rank	Co-Driver	Points	Margin
1	Lucas Cruz	76	Leader
2	Xavier Panseri	58	– 18
3	Alex Winocq	56	– 20
4	Armand Monleón	40	– 36
5	Loïc Minaudier	32	– 44
6	Viktor Chytka	27	– 49
T-7	Mathieu Baumel	18	– 58
T-7	Konstantin Zhiltsov	18	– 58
9	Alberto Andreotti	16	– 60
10	Emil Bergkvist	15	– 61
T-11	Timo Gottschalk	14	– 62
T-11	François Cazalet	14	– 62
13	Édouard Boulanger	13	– 63
T-14	Daniel Oliveiras	11	– 65
T-14	Kellon Walch	11	– 65
16	Oriol Vidal	9	– 67
17	Gustavo Gugelmin	7	– 69
T-18	Dennis Zenz	5	– 71
T-18	Adrien Metge	5	– 71
T-20	Paolo Ceci	4	– 72
T-20	Jeremy Gray	4	– 72
22	Łukasz Kurzeja	3	– 73

Manufacturers’ standings

Rank	Manufacturer	Points	Margin
1	Audi	76	Leader
2	Toyota	63	– 13
3	Prodrive	30	– 46
4	Mini	20	– 56