The much-awaited 2024 Dakar Rally kicks off today, with the Prologue stage deciding who starts the first stage tomorrow. Today’s stage starts and ends at AlUla, which consists of a 27km special and 130km of liaison. This year’s Dakar Rally sees many new changes, including a ‘back-to-original’ style two-day race on stage 6 of the rally.
As with the competitors, this year’s rally will see 425 vehicles participate to win the top prize at the end of the race. These vehicles include motorcycles, quads, cars, lightweight prototypes, SSVs, and trucks.
The motorcycle class already has its favourites and top riders representing eight factory teams: KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, Honda, Sherco, Hero, Yamaha and Kove. Among them, Hero is the only Indian team to participate, while Sherco has an Indian rider — Harith Noah. Also, this year’s Dakar Rally will see Ashish Raorane participate as a privateer on a KTM Rally Replica, with the support of Xraid Experience.
Australian KTM Factory rider Toby Price is looking for his third Dakar win while defending champion Kevin Benavides will not only have to defend the title from Price but also his brother, Luciano Benavides, riding for the Husqvarna Factory team amongst others. Honda has brought a 6-man armada this year, while KTM has seen Mathias Walkner miss the race owing to injuries.
In the car category, 2023 champion Nasser Al-Attiyah will be driving for Prodrive, alongside teammate and nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb, who is also eyeing a Dakar win this year. Audi is back with the RS Q E-Tron this year, with Dakar legends such as Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel, who are also eyeing for the victory.
