Rally

Goncalves, 40, was contesting his 13th Dakar for Indian manufacturer Hero, and was lying 46th overall as the rally resumed following Saturday's rest day. During Sunday's 546km Riyadh-Wadi Al Dawasir test, the Portuguese rider suffered a crash at the 276km mark at 10.16am local time. Fernando Alonso, the two-time Formula 1 world champion who is making his Dakar debut this year, said he felt ...Keep reading View the full article

Honda man Benavides had been leading Sunday's Riyadh-Wadi Al Dawasir stage before Goncalves' crash at the 276km mark. The Portuguese rider was airlifted to hospital and subsequently pronounced dead. Several riders stopped to aid Goncalves, including Benavides, Toby Price and Stefan Svitko, all of whom have been awarded time by rally organisers. Benavides had originally been classified ...Keep reading View the full article

Sainz, chasing his third Dakar win, picked up where he had left off in the first half of the marathon, as delivered Mini’s sixth stage win from seven in this year’s Dakar so far. Sunday’s Riyadh – Wadi ad-Dawasir run featured the event’s longest timed special at 546 kilometres, yet did not cause any major swings in the battle for overall victory. The Toyotas of reigning champion ...Keep reading View the full article

The first portion of the 546km Riyadh-Wadi Al Dawasir test, the longest not only of this edition but also in the Dakar for five years, was led by another Honda rider, Kevin Benavides, whose chances of overall victory were wrecked by engine woes during Friday's stage. But, ahead of the 321km mark, Benavides dropped seven minutes, slipping down the order and gifting the advantage to teammate ...Keep reading View the full article

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The Dakar began the third leg of its illustrious history in the Middle East this January as part of a five-year deal with Saudi Arabia, ending a 11-year stint in South America that began in 2009 following the cancellation of the 2008 Africa event. The move has received widespread praise from crews across all categories, with competitors hailing the navigational challenge and the variety of ...Keep reading View the full article

Honda rider Brabec was leading Dakar in 2019 until he suffered an engine failure on Stage 8, allowing Toby Price to take the win and extend KTM’s winning streak to 18. The American has since bounced back from the incident and sits atop the standings heading into Saturday’s mid-rally break, having built up a 20-minute advantage in the first six stages of the rally. Brabec says the events ...Keep reading View the full article

Alonso is contesting his first Dakar this year as part of the Al Attiyah-led Toyota contingent, and sits 16th in the overall classification after the first half of the marathon. Though a two-hour delay for repairs on the second day has knocked his chances at a headline result, the two-time Formula 1 champion has impressed his rally-raid regular rivals by producing bouts of frontrunning ...Keep reading View the full article

At the halfway point of the first-ever Saudi Arabia-based edition of the legendary rally-raid, X-raid Mini driver Carlos Sainz Sr enjoys a seven-minute advantage over defending event winner Nasser Al-Attiyah's Toyota. X-raid's pair of Mini JCW Buggies, driven by Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel, have won the last four stages between them, while Toyota has taken only one victory so far with its ...Keep reading View the full article

The Japanese manufacturer has put itself in a strong position to take its first Dakar triumph since 1989, with Ricky Brabec leading the Husqvarna of Pablo Quintanilla by 20m56s at the midway point of the rally. KTM, which has enjoyed an unbeaten 18-rally streak since 2001, is only third with Toby Price after the Australian lost time in the latter stages of Stage 6. Walkner, who himself sits ...Keep reading View the full article

Peterhansel outpaced fellow Mini buggy driver Sainz by a minute and 21 seconds over the 477-kilometre timed special between Ha'il and Riyadh, with the day's route dominated by sand dunes. Toyota's reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah completed a familiar top three on the day as he stayed within a minute of Peterhansel and Sainz during the first half of the stage before ultimately dropping to ...Keep reading View the full article

Norwegian driver Ostberg, a mainstay of the WRC from 2011 until 2018, will contest the full eight-round WRC2 schedule at the wheel of a PH Sport-run Citroen C3 R5. It follows his campaign in the second-tier series, known last year as 'WRC2 Pro', in a factory-entered Citroen that yielded three wins and second in the points behind Kalle Rovanpera. Citroen's works WRC2 team was discontinued for ...Keep reading View the full article

Honda was the most competitive bike in Stage 6, the last test of the rally before the mid-event rest day, as its riders topped the timesheets at every checkpoint. Jose Ignacio Cornejo and Kevin Benavides were fastest early on but Brabec took over after 200 kilometres and never surrendered the lead afterwards. Brabec's lead was never comfortable as Benavides was able to keep the gap at less ...Keep reading View the full article

As well as revealing the car’s livery for this season, the Japan show was also the maiden appearance of the team’s three new crews in this season’s overalls. Sebastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera were all present with co-drivers to help team principal Tommi Makinen pull the covers off the car. As well as discussing the team’s prospects for the year ahead, Makinen talked ...Keep reading View the full article

The XE SUV took part in the shakedown for this year’s Dakar last week and it has been invited to complete the event’s final 12.4-mile test - the ‘Grand Prix of Qiddiya’. It will run in the ‘future alternative’ category, which includes E-bikes, E-trucks and hybrid cars, at the start of the rally’s final run. “Dakar is always something I’ve been interested in experiencing so ...Keep reading View the full article

Factory KTM rider Sunderland won the Dakar in 2017, but crashed at the 187km point of Stage 5 in 2020, and required medical assistance for his multiple injuries. “Sam is OK,” reported KTM team boss Jordi Viladoms. “He has an injury in his back. Some fractures, but small ones, with no compressions. So surgery is not necessary. “He also has an injury in his shoulderblade, but nothing ...Keep reading View the full article

X-raid Mini Buggy driver Sainz came into the stage with a 3m03s lead over Toyota rival Al-Attiyah, and looked set to drop further time as he lost two-and-a-half-minutes in the opening 50km of Thursday's 353km Al Ula-Hail test. But the two-time World Rally champion recovered to take a slender lead at the 250km and ended up pulling out 2m56s over Al-Attiyah over the remainder of the stage. It ...Keep reading View the full article

The car, which features a mainly white and blue paint scheme for 2020 instead of the predominantly blue and silver livery of last year, is inspired by the early 1990s Ford World Rally Cars, according to M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson. Wilson mentioned the livery of 1993, with the then manufacturer-run Ford Escort RS Cosworth run out of its infamous Boreham base and driven by Francois Delecour ...Keep reading View the full article

Price took the lead at the beginning of the 564km stage, and was fastest through the remaining four checkpoints. In the first half of the test, he was rivalled by Sunderland, who was stripped of a stage victory on Wednesday for exceeding speed limits in a neutralised section. But the 2017 champion suffered a heavy crash 187km into the stage and he was forced to retire from the event, having ...Keep reading View the full article

Sunderland narrowly beat Jose Ignacio Cornejo by just 11 seconds after a strong end to the stage, having made up more than two minutes after the last checkpoint. But the 2017 champion was found to have gone faster than allowed in a speed limit zone, which is a part of the route where competitors can't go faster than 30 kph. Sunderland was handed a five-minute penalty, which dropped him to ...Keep reading View the full article