2024 Desafio Ruta 40: Yazeed Al-Rajhi holds off Al-Attiyah for Ultimate win

As was the case in 2023, the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship will come down to the final round between Nasser Al-Attiyah and Yazeed Al-Rajhi. This time, the battle is closer as they left Argentina separated by twenty-five points and Al-Rajhi with momentum after narrowly defeating Al-Attiyah for the Desafío Ruta 40 win.

The defending DR 40 victor, Al-Attiyah’s quest for a third consecutive win seemed to start on a high note when he won the Prologue. However, he quickly faced stiff resistance thereafter as Al-Rajhi led an onslaught of Toyota Hiluxes alongside Toyota Gazoo Racing‘s Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero. Al-Rajhi claimed the overall lead with his Stage #1 win and never relinquished it despite having to race conservatively in Stage #4 to protect his truck’s supension. By the end, he barely beat Al-Attiyah by a mere forty seconds.

A one-minute penalty for Al-Attiyah in Stage #3 may have been the difference maker. His co-driver Édouard Boulanger had undone his seatbelts and HANS device to address the smell of smoke in the cockpit; upon returning to his seat, he signalled to Al-Attiyah to drive again despite not having properly fastened said safety devices. Their Prodrive had driven roughly twenty-seven seconds as Boulanger was tightening everything. The penalty dropped Al-Attiyah from second to third for the stage and left him trailing Al-Rajhi by thirteen seconds entering Stage #5, which he was unable to make up as Al-Rajhi won.

“We finished in second place and that keeps us in a strong position to fight for the championship,” said Al-Attiyah. “We will be racing in the final round in Morocco in October with our new car and the aim is to finish this season as world champions.”

The victory is Al-Rajhi’s first of 2024 and allows him to leapfrog the absent Carlos Sainz for second in the championship. After trailing Al-Attiyah by thirty-three points entering Argentina, the gap is now twenty-five with one round to go.

“Yazeed launched a rocket on the final stretch and gained back the lead. And man, I really had to hold on tight to me seat,” wrote Al-Rajhi’s navigator Timo Gottschalk, who sliced his gap to Boulanger for the co-driver’s championship by more than half from seventy to twenty. “But it was the best in the house: Yazeed was throwing the kitchen sink at it. And maybe even the kitchen itself! It paid off. Could not be any happier!”

Although Moraes and Quintero won stages back to back, neither finished on the podium after a tumultuous rally. Moraes had finished the Prologue without a right-rear wheel before Quintero ended up in a ditch in Stage #1 while trying to avoid spectators too close to the course. Their stage wins put them into the top five, Moraes as high as third, before disaster struck in Stage #4 as dampers broke on both of their Hiluxes. Quintero recovered with a third on the final day but was the last overall finisher in Ultimate.

While slim, Moraes still has a mathematical shot at the title as he trails Al-Attiyah by fifty-three points. However, he will need an exceptional amount of bad luck to strike those in front of him while winning every stage at the season-ending Rallye du Maroc.

“It was a hard, but successful week, which was ultimately decided by one stage,” commented Moraes. “We showed how strong we are across four of the five days, and I’m very proud of what we managed to achieve. We are not just contenders, but future champions.”

The Mini of Sebastián Halpern finished third, meaning each step of the podium consisted of a different manufacturer. Halpern made his return to the W2RC after a dismal 2023 DR 40 that prompted him to skip the Dakar Rally in January, dissatisfied with the Mini’s performance. This time, he rebounded with a best finish of third in Stage #4.

Juan Cruz Yacopini and Marcos Baumgart were the category’s retirements. The former had rolled in both Stages #2 and #3, while Baumgart suffered a mechanical problem on the first leg.

Ultimate overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Time	Margin
1	202	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Timo Gottschalk	Overdrive Racing	17:38:21	Leader
2	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Édouard Boulanger	Nasser Racing	17:39:01	+ 0:40
3	211	Sebastián Halpern	Bernardo Graue	X-raid Mini JCW Team	18:24:37	+ 46:16
4	208	Denis Krotov	Konstantin Zhiltsov	Overdrive Racing	18:40:50	+ 1:02:29
5	203	Lucas Moraes	Armand Monleón	Toyota Gazoo Racing	18:51:24	+ 1:13:03
6	207	Cristian Baumgart	Gustavo Gugelmin	X Rally Team	19:50:07	+ 2:11:46
7	206	Seth Quintero	Dennis Zenz	Toyota Gazoo Racing	20:03:03	+ 2:24:42
DNF	209	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveras	Overdrive Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	210	Marcos Baumgart	Kleber Cincea	X Rally Team	DNF	N/A

Ultimate stage winners

Stage	Driver	Time
Prologue	Nasser Al-Attiyah	16:17.8
Stage #1	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	3:56:00
Stage #2	Lucas Moraes	4:08:14
Stage #3	Seth Quintero	3:14:00
Stage #4	Nasser Al-Attiyah	3:39:15
Stage #5	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	2:34:40

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 not earned points are excluded.

Drivers’ standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Nasser Al-Attiyah	156	Leader
2	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	131	– 25
3	Lucas Moraes	103	– 53
4	Carlos Sainz	100	– 56
5	Guerlain Chicherit	69	– 87
6	Guillaume de Mévius	65	– 91
7	Rokas Baciuška	60	– 96
8	Seth Quintero	55	– 101
9	Denis Krotov	44	– 112
10	Martin Prokop	36	– 120
T-11	João Ferreira	34	– 122
T-11	Cristian Baumgart	34	– 122
13	Austin Jones	33	– 123
14	Mathieu Serradori	32	– 124
15	Sebastián Halpern	24	– 132
16	Nicolás Cavigliasso	23	– 133
17	Saood Variawa	22	– 134
18	Juan Cruz Yacopini	17	– 139
T-19	Yasir Seaidan	16	– 140
T-19	Dania Akeel	16	– 140
21	Mattias Ekström	15	– 141
22	Marcos Baumgart	14	– 142
23	Stéphane Peterhansel	13	– 143
T-24	Mitch Guthrie	11	– 145
T-24	Sebastián Guayasamín	11	– 145
26	Marcelo Gastaldi	10	– 146
T-27	Pau Navarro	9	– 147
T-27	Ricardo Ramilo	9	– 147
T-29	Ricardo Porém	8	– 148
T-29	Rebecca Busi	8	– 148
31	Aliyyah Koloc	6	– 150
32	Mário Franco	5	– 151
T-33	Sara Price	4	– 152
T-33	Eugenio Amos	4	– 152
35	Krzysztof Hołowczyc	3	– 153
36	Claude Fournier	2	– 154
37	Lionel Baud	1	– 155

Co-drivers’ standings

Rank	Co-Driver	Points	Margin
1	Édouard Boulanger	151	Leader
2	Timo Gottschalk	131	– 20
3	Armand Monleón	103	– 48
4	Lucas Cruz	76	– 75
5	Xavier Panseri	65	– 86
6	Alex Winocq	64	– 87
7	Dennis Zenz	55	– 96
8	Konstantin Zhiltsov	44	– 107
9	Oriol Vidal	43	– 108
10	Viktor Chytka	36	– 115
11	Filipe Palmeiro	34	– 117
12	Loïc Minaudier	32	– 119
13	Oriol Mena	26	– 125
14	Gustavo Gugelmin	25	– 126
T-15	Alex Haro	24	– 127
T-15	Bernardo Graue	24	– 127
T-17	Mathieu Baumel	23	– 128
T-17	Valentina Pertegarini	23	– 128
T-17	Sébastien Delaunay	23	– 128
20	François Cazalet	22	– 129
21	Daniel Oliveiras	17	– 134
T-22	Alberto Andreotti	16	– 135
T-22	Stéphane Duplé	16	– 135
24	Emil Bergkvist	15	– 136
25	Kleber Kincea	14	– 137
T-26	Kellon Walch	11	– 140
T-26	Michaël Metge	11	– 140
T-26	Fernando Acosta	11	– 140
29	Carlos Sachs	10	– 141
T-30	Andreas Schulz	9	– 142
T-30	Fausto Mota	9	– 142
T-32	Luís Marques	8	– 143
T-32	Sergio Lafuente	8	– 143
T-34	Adrien Metge	5	– 146
T-34	João Serôdio	5	– 146
T-36	Paolo Ceci	4	– 147
T-36	Jeremy Gray	4	– 147
38	Łukasz Kurzeja	3	– 148
39	Serge Gounon	2	– 149
40	Lucie Baud	1	– 150

Manufacturers’ standings

Rank	Manufacturer	Points	Margin
1	Toyota	190	Leader
2	Prodrive	160	– 30
3	Mini	97	– 93
4	Audi	76	– 114