The sixth stage of the 2024 Dakar Rally is the start of the first day of the 48-hour Chrono stage, in which competitors will have to cover 549km over two days. The day was filled with trouble for a few, while some made the best of it. In the motorcycle class, Honda rider Adrien Van Beveren leads the stage, with Ricky Brabec behind him, and Toby Price in third place.
Although Honda leads one-tow on the stage, the team faced issues as Skyler Howes was the first Honda man to face issues at Km 39 and was unable to fix the issue. Later into the stage was Pablo QUintaniall, who ran out of fuel, emptying his tank in under 200km into the stage. Other riders also ran out of fuel, as the soft sand had most riders with pinned open throttles.
Also, what makes this stage more difficult is that the riders will have no mechanical assistance from their team at the end of the day and have to work on their own bikes. They will sleep in tents and will be rationed food, army style.
Moving on to the cars, Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi, who had been the man to beat, suffered a huge crash just 51km into the stage and had to return to the start of the special. He will be able to continue the race, provided his Hilux is repaired and complies with FIA, while also giving up the dream of a Dakar win.
Al Rajhi’s incident has let El Matador Sainz take the overall lead, surpassing defending champion Al-Attiyah in the overall rankings. Stage results for the 48-hour Chrono stage will be available at the end of stage 7 of the Dakar Rally, followed by a rest day on Sunday.
