Price loses time as Brabec sneaks to Dakar lead

Only a single second separates the top two riders in the fight for the 2024 Dakar Rally as the hopes of Toby Price and Daniel Sanders drift slightly further.

After a tense stage 7 that had everything from dirt, sand and rock sections, Ricky Brabec did enough to defend his overall lead by the barest of margins despite Ross Branch having a more productive day.

Branch finished fourth and was 50s faster than Brabec but ultimately was just a second short of snatching the overall lead as their thrilling fight looks set to go down to the final stage.

The 873km and five-plus hour journey was won by Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo, who was three minutes and 12 seconds faster than Luciano Benavides.

However, his KTM riding brother was actually faster but was demoted to third due to a three-minute penalty.

Sanders was the fastest Aussie in sixth, just over nine minutes off the pace in his GasGas.

Despite losing time to Luciano Benavides, Sanders consolidated seventh in the overall rankings.

Sanders said it was tough to make up much ground due to the vast amount of dust kicked up by the bikes.

“It was pretty good,” he said.

“There was a lot of stones and sand so we just tried to keep it safe.

“There was also a lot of dust because all the riders grouped up near the end so we could not make much time on the front guys.

“We just made it to the finish and we are on the home stretch now so we will keep ticking off the days.”

Price had a slighter tougher stage, crossing the line eighth, around 11 and a half minutes from the ultimate pace.

As a result his hopes of a third Dakar crown took a slight blow with the deficit to the leaders now over half an hour.

Price admitted to having some navigation issues and stressed the need to “minimise mistakes” to remain in the victory hunt.

“It was a crazy stage,” he reflected.

“It was definitely tricky with the navigation so we lost some ground today but all in all we are still riding and having fun.

“We need to minimise the mistakes. I have been making way too many and the others are on the gas but we will keep at it.”  

There was drama in T3 with class leader Erik Goczal disqualified due to a technical infringement.

However, there were no concerns for the Aussie duo Glenn Brinkman and Dale Moscatt as they finished a solid 16th in the seven-hour stage.

They have continued their climb to 21st in the class rankings but with a seven-hour deficit to their nearest rival, the focus will be cementing the place for the remainder of the rally.

Including the prologue, Moscatt and Brinkman spent over 13 hours in the car and were glad to reach the finish.

“It was a huge day and I am glad it is over. It was tough,” Brinkman said.

It was a mixed bag with rock, sand, dunes, everything we have encountered in the rally in one stage.

“The first 50km were frustrating. The dust was diabolical with a train of cars that could not pass each other.

“Because we followed them for so long the car would not drive and would not get over 80km so we decided to pull over and clean the air filter out.

“We dropped 15 minutes doing that but it was worth it because I don’t think we would have got up the dunes without it.”  

Sebastien Loeb continued his good form by collecting a third stage win to eat into Carlos Sainz’s overall lead.

Now only 19 minutes separate the pair with 15 of them Loeb’s penalty for missing a waypoint earlier in the rally.

As Loeb flew to a seven-minute stage win, Audi battled with Mattias Ekstrom stopping twice due to mechanical issues and plummeting from third to 26th.

A less demanding 458km stage from Al Duwadimi to Ha’il full of rugged terrain is next up.

2024 Dakar Rally bikes classifcation

2024 Dakar Rally cars classifcation

Image: Florent Gooden / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool

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