Dakar 2021: Stage 9 - The horror stage... for some.

PHOTO CREDIT: X-Raid Mini JCW.

Written By: Franco Theron - NamWheels

Edited: Junaid Samodien 

Honda edging towards number two? 

An eight stage win for 2021 as all of their title rivals lost time or retired, certainly now means that Honda can comfortably take their second successive Dakar win. 

Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (Honda), yesterday extended his 1 second lead over Toby Price (KTM) to 1:06 minutes. Suffering a cut to his rear wheel, midway through the marathon stage, Price had to nurse his tyre back to the liaison yesterday. 

With the 9th stage said to prove trying for navigation, Price stormed into the stage, leading after the first checkpoint. Cornejo Florimo soon bested the Australian at the next check, but was soon beaten by his teammate, Ricky Brabec (Honda) at the third check. 

Struggling with navigation, the overall leader lost some time to Price and his Monster Energy Honda teammates, but soon again jumped into the lead of the stage as Kevin Benavides dropped time, with Ricky Brabec losing almost 21 and a half minutes before the halfway mark. 

Drama soon erupted as Price came to a standstill in the stage. Meanwhile, Daniel Sanders and Sam Sunderland were also losing significant time, potentially bringing an end to KTM’s overall 2021 contention. 

As Honda continued their attack, news came through that Price had crashed at 155km and broke his collarbone. Was this the final blow for KTM in 2021? 

With Cornejo Florimo now able to rest somewhat, Benavides soon took the stage lead, with Van Beveren slightly catching up throughout the stage. At the same time, Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna), who was also setting quick times during the stage, had to be airlifted to the hospital after a crash. 

Kevin Benavides held a steady 2 to 3 minute gap over Cornejo Florimo as the stage progressed, whilst van Beveren now moved into 3rd after Luciano Benavides’ crash.

Ricky Brabec took the lead at waypoint 4 (PK121) but lost over twenty minutes when he stopped to help the injured Toby Price. Price's teammate Sam Sunderland also stopped to assist. At the end of the stage, the A.S.O handed some time back to both riders. 

Kevin Benavides would win the stage with Ricky Brabec finishing in second, but it would ultimately be Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo and Honda claiming a 1-2-3 finish as their main rivals fell today. 

Cornejo Florimo now takes a 11:24 minute lead from Kevin Benavides, with Barreda Bort following 14 minutes behind the duo. This is the largest gap we have seen all race long. 

Will Honda make it a historic 1-2-3 on Friday? 

From bad to out for Branch 

After suffering three falls and mechanical problems during the first leg of the marathon stage, Ross Branch (Yamaha) lost all hope for overall contention. Dropping to 15th position overall on stage 7, the Botswana-born rider fought his way back yesterday to overtake his much more experienced teammate, Adrien van Beveren. 

Today, Branch again started very strong, clearing teammate, van Beveren in the early stages. However, his engine soon cut out, meaning that the Yamaha leader (up till this point) had to be forced into retirement. 

Yamaha now only has van Beveren to fight for stage wins. 

A bad day indeed for Southern Africans and Yamaha. 

Peterhansel on the verge of victory number 14?

The start of the 9th stage saw much the same as we did yesterday, with the Toyota of Nasser Al-Attiyah and the two Mini’s of Stephane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz fighting one another with mere seconds between them. 

Opening the road today, Al-Attiyah edged the two Mini’s, but only 6 seconds separated the trio. Come the second checkpoint, Peterhansel jumped into the hot seat, while the other two kept within 10 seconds. 

As the stage progressed, first Sainz lost over 5 minutes, with Al-Attiyah soon following to almost lose 6 minutes to Peterhansel before the midway point has been reached. 

The speculation came in that Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah were playing a strategic game with one another to not lead the stage and let the rival make a mistake. All this meant that the likes of Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing) Yazeed Al-Rahji (Overdrive Toyota) and Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing) steadily started catching up. 

Progressively losing time to Peterhansel, Al-Attiyah had already lost 10:20 minutes to the leaders just past the midway mark of the stage. Finishing the stage, the Qatari had lost 12 minutes in total. The overall gap has therefore grown to almost 18 minutes, while Sainz is a further 42 minutes adrift.  

Rather, it was Serradori, who started to lead the stage after 320km as Peterhansel evidently held his word not to open a stage for the 2021 edition. De Villiers also managed to pass the times of his teammate and would finish the stage in third position. 

However, towards the end of the stage, Serradori’s car ground to a halt, propelling Peterhansel back into the lead, with De Villiers in third and Brian Baragwanath in fifth.

To rub salt in Carlos Sainz's wounds after navigational issues in week one. The Spaniard had to contend with brake issues today which cost him over 20 minutes, and his hopes of defending the title have slipped by the wayside (+01:02:25 behind). 

Today’s stage might just have been the final plot twist.  

Dakar 2021: Stage 8 - Toyota and Honda make it 7 out of 9 .

 PHOTO CREDIT: A.S.O/Dakar

Written By: Franco Theron - NamWheels

Motorbikes: 7th stage win for Honda

The stage from Sakaka to Neom today saw the battle between the KTM’s and Honda’s resume as Toby Price, Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo, and Joan Barreda Bort (Honda) all set the timesheets alight. 

Winning the stage yesterday, Ricky Brabec (Honda) struggled to keep the pace of the leading trio as Price held the slightest of margins over Cornejo Florimo and Barreda Bort. Finishing the stage yesterday, Cornejo Florimo led overall by 1 second over Price. 

With a new rule, seeing riders only allowed 6 tyres, Price had to patch his wheel in a very innovative way, whilst also setting blistering stage times. This is why the Australian is a 2-time Dakar winner. 

As the stage progressed, Brabec started to lose time as Cornejo Florimo overtook Price, leading the latter by a mere 7 seconds after waypoint 8 (PK307), extending his lead as the stage progressed. 

The Chilean would win the stage by 1:05 minutes, extending his lead over Price to 1:06. With only four stages remaining and Cornejo Florimo opening the stage tomorrow, the 2021 Dakar Rally is too close call. 

Xavier de Soultrait (HT Rally Raid Husqvarna) also saw a promising 2021 race and started today’s stage in 4th overall. However, medical assistance was deployed at the 267km mark as the rider crashed heavily and therefore had to retire from the race. 

After a horrible day yesterday, seeing him fall 3 times, damaging his bike in the process, and taring apart his knee guards, Ross Branch (Yamaha) held a steady pace as the top Yamaha today as the rest of the top 15 were spread widely in the standings. 

Branch finished 11th, some 9 minutes behind the stage winner. Whilst losing time to the leaders, the Botswana rider did manage to climb up two spots in the overall rankings as de Soultrait retired and Van Beveren fell behind by 15 seconds. 

Losing Franco Caimi due to a broken engine; the third of their five riders today, Yamaha only has Branch and Adrien Van Beveren left to fight for stage victories. 

Cars: 7th stage win for Toyota 

The first marathon section yesterday, saw Yazeed Al-Rahji (Toyota Overdrive) win the stage in the latter part as Stephane Peterhansel (X-Raid Mini JCW) evidently ran into problems, yet still managed to extend his overall lead over the Toyota of Nasser Al-Attiyah. 

Today, however, the Qatari launched onto the stage, leading both Mini’s and Al-Rahji by mere seconds. However, at the waypoint 4 (PK161), Peterhansel started edging Al-Attiyah once again, while Sainz slightly trailed the two upfront. 

The top-three would keep on trading times, staying within seconds from one another as Al Rajhi started to fall behind the likes of Cyril Despres (Abu Dhabi Racing).  

Towards the end of the special, Al-Attiyah distances Peterhansel, while Sainz stayed in a close second. Yet, the Toyota’s gap to Peterhansel was not sufficient to drastically reduce the overall lead. The Qatari won the stage by 52 seconds over Sainz, while cutting 3:03 minutes into Peterhansel’s lead. 

Opening the road once again tomorrow, Al-Attiyah will hope to cut down the 4:50 minute deficit to Peterhansel. 

Shameer Variawa and Giniel de Villiers also held their heads high today, constantly racing within and around the top 10 stage times. However, de Villiers' charge was hampered by punctures once again. 

Having reached the bivouac with 1 minute till cut-off at 1 am, Brian Baragwanath (Century Racing) spent the night working on their car and started the stage 51st, but gained time as they also raced their way to 12th-place today.

Edited By: Junaid Samodien. 

Dakar 2021: Stage 7 - Al-Attiyah and Branch loses out.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool. 

Written By: Franco Theron - NamWheels

Edited: Junaid Samodien

The seventh stage of the 2021 Dakar Rally was one to forget for Yamaha's Ross Branch and the Toyota Gazoo Racing's Nasser Al-Attiyah. Rather, it was a victorious day for Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (Honda) and Stephane Peterhansel (X-Raid Mini JCW) as they now have a firmer grasp on yet another title. 

Honda’s continue to dominate stages as Price extends overall lead 

The Honda’s of Kevin Benavides and Ricky Brabec continued their normal stage attack as Cornejo Florimo and Toby Price (KTM) held a steady attack pace to extend their overall lead. With five stages remaining, the Honda and KTM squad are ensued in their heated battles to take the overall victory. 

Benavides then lost around 10 minutes to his teammate just before the finish, elevating Xavier de Soultrait (HT Rally Raid Husqvarna) and Jose Cornejo Florimo (Honda) ahead. The KTM’s of Sam Sunderland and Daniel Sanders were also once again on the attack and constantly kept within the top 5 times. 

The 2020 winner, Brabec won today’s stage, Cornejo Florimo, Sunderland, Sanders, and de Soultrait followed. 

Yet, Cornejo Florimo crossed the line to now lead the overall standings by a mere 1 second from Price. Sunderland follows, some 2:10 minutes back, with de Soultrait hot on his heels, only 23 seconds back. 

Once again the gaps are extremely close, with the top 4 now only separated by 2:30.  

Yamaha’s title hopes were somewhat diminished today as Ross Branch crashed very early in the stage. Although he was fine, his bike needed repairs. The Botswana rider, therefore, lost 42 minutes to the stage leaders. 

However, with the Honda’s and KTM’s seemingly on the attack for the second week, it will be a tough ask, with not much time left to do so. He will now have the same task as Carlos Sainz (X-Raid Mini JCW) had early in week 1; with a mammoth task to claw back more than 41 minutes. Teammate, Adrien van Beveren, attacked harder today but also lost considerable time to the stage leaders. Although now the leading Yamaha rider, the Frenchman is 38 minutes behind the leaders.  

Peterhansel extends lead 

After extensive work was done to the Toyota GAZOO Racing SA Hilux's during the rest day yesterday, all eyes were on Nasser Al-Attiyah to see if the Qatari would be able to claw back the odd 5 minutes to Stephane Peterhansel. 

Yet, Peterhansel managed to hold his own today as the Frenchman more than doubled his lead over the Toyota. 

The stage would again follow the same proceedings as that of stage 6 as a Mini would again lead the stage with Yazeed Al-Rahji (Toyota Overdrive) in second place, fending off the second Mini. This time around, however, Peterhansel led the stage, with Carlos Sainz chasing in third. 

Towards the end of the stage, the situation quickly turned as Al-Rahji took the lead of the stage, while Al-Attiyah gained some 5 minutes on Peterhansel to trail the Frenchman by 1:30 in the stage. All eyes were on the finish line. 

Al-Rajhi reached the finish line, 1:15 minutes ahead of Sainz, while Peterhansel finished 48 seconds behind Al Rahji, putting two more minutes into his overall lead over Al-Attiyah. Was this strategic gameplay to allow Al-Rahji to open the road tomorrow? We should soon find out! 

Brian Baragwanath (Century Racing) had a torrid day as the South-African pairing ground to a halt at the 33km mark after hitting a hidden rock in the soft sand and broke a rear suspension linkage. SRT's Mathieu Serradori tried to provide some assistance but he did not have the required part. At the time of publishing this article, Baragwanath and Perry are still on the stage trying to make it to the bivoauc. 

Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA) also lost time today and finished the stage in twenty-second place. 

Dakar 2021: Stage 6 – Motorbike lead changes yet again as Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah inseparable.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

Written By - Franco Theron - NamWheels 

Ahead of the rest day tomorrow, the fight in both the motorbike- and car categories are intensifying. Let’s have a look at what happened today. 

Honda dominating? 

Yesterday was a good day for Honda, with Kevin Benavides claiming stage honours, even with a broken nose. The four Honda riders seem to support one another very well in this edition. Teamwork seems to be the order of the day, where one rider aims to win the stage, with the rest trading positions to open the road on the next day. 

Up to this point, Toby Price seems to be the only KTM rider, realistically being able to fight the top riders, while Ross Branch plays this part for Yamaha. 

Opening the road today, Benavides struggled to keep up with the pace, while teammate, Joan Barreda Bort spearheaded the stage early on, with Toby Price (KTM) and Ross Branch (Yamaha) hot on his back wheel. 

Just over the 200km mark, Price managed to pass the Honda of Barreda Bort, with Branch, Daniel Sanders (KTM), and Ricky Brabec (Honda) very closely behind. 

However, towards the end of the stage, Price started losing time as Branch, Barreda, and Sanders once again edged ahead. 

Barreda and Branch cleared the road, while Sanders kept Brabec and the chasing KTM’s of Price, Sam Sunderland, and Mattias Walkner behind. Yet, Brabec soon made a navigational error and fell towards the latter part of the top 10. 

It was Branch, who crossed the finish line first, but Barreda soon pipped him by a slender 48 seconds. 

This means that as we head into the rest day, Price now moves into the lead, ahead of Kevin Benavides, Cornejo Florimo (Honda), and Branch. The top 6 are, however, separated by a mere 4:23. This will surely cause for a very exciting last half of the race when it resumes on Sunday. 

Sainz on the attack 

An excellent day for South Africa yesterday, saw Giniel de Villiers take Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’S fifth stage triumph of the 2021 edition, while Brian Baragwanath (Century Racing) came in a close second. 

Whilst the battle for stage honors took place, the overall battle between Stephane Peterhansel (X-Raid Mini JCW) and Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA) brewing. The latter later admitted that he found the stage very difficult, having lost more time to his French rival. Carlos Sainz (X-Raid Mini JCW) was also quick to follow, suggesting the 2021 edition to be more of a gymkhana race, rather than a navigational marathon. 

Stating that stage 5 and 6 would probably be the most important of the race, would we see Al-Attiyah throw everything at today's’ stage in a bid to regain time? 

Sainz and Peterhansel reached the first checkpoint of the day in the lead, with Al-Attiyah and Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Overdrive) closely following. The latter soon started to trouble the times of Peterhansel, while Sainz cleared ahead. 

Some 48 minutes behind Peterhansel overall before today’s stage, Sainz needed to gain time on the leading two driver if he is to challenge for the win in the last week. 

Yesterday’s winner, de Villiers struggled to keep his pace from yesterday and kept within the higher top 10 places in the stage, while Baragwanath ran in a constant 5th position. 

Sebastien Loeb’s (BRX) 2021 Dakar Rally also went from bad to worse as he broke a suspension arm on the stage and had to await the support truck for repairs. It was not the rally the Frenchman had hoped for. 

Yet, all eyes were locked on the times set by Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah, with the former looking to gain more time on the Qatari. Yet, after 404 km, Al-Attiyah gained on Peterhansel, leading the Frenchman by a barely inseparable 9 seconds.  

Crossing the finish line, Sainz claimed the stage victory as he gained on his overall rivals. Al Rajhi finished second, while Al-Attiyah bested Peterhansel by only 18 seconds. 

This means that Peterhansel goes into the rest day as the leader by 5:53, with Sainz 40:39 behind Peterhansel.