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Dakar 2024: Dakar gathers all its difficulties on the penultimate day and shows all its "cruelty" to competitors
The 11th and penultimate stage of the race was undoubtedly the toughest of the 2024 edition. Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti tried only to complete the stage, while other cars in the leading pack suffered from problems and gave up their chances of the title
The Dakar bites. The 11th and penultimate stage of the Dakar, held on Thursday (18), with a total of 587 kilometers, had its 480 kilometers of timed section chosen as the most difficult of the 2024 edition. The race, between Al'Ula and Yanbu, brought together every possible difficulty for drivers, navigators and machines. And it showed how "cruel" sport can be.
Cristian Baumgart and Beco Andreotti adopted total caution to complete the stage towards their ultimate goal, which is to finish the Dakar 2024. "By far the most difficult stage I've ever driven," Cristian Baumgart was impressed. "There were some stretches of rocks that felt like we were on another planet. It was very difficult: we had to pass practically dragging ourselves," he said. The Brazilian duo from X Rally had to overcome two flat tires and finished the day with the 27th fastest time of the day among the cars with X Rally's Prodrive Hunter. In the overall standings, Cristian and Beco are in 13th place.
"It was a very difficult day - cruel even, I'd say - which demanded everything in terms of driving, navigation and also concentration. Getting a flat tire was the easiest thing today, and we saw a lot of people along the way," said navigator Beco Andreotti.
And indeed, the 11th stage of the Dakar "bit" a lot of people fighting for the title. Starting with the then second-placed Sebastien Loeb, from BRX. His Prodrive Hunter came to a standstill with a mechanical problem at kilometer 132. He and navigator Fabian Lurquin lost almost an hour and a half, managed to fix the broken suspension and finished the stage in 36th place, 1h28min behind stage winner Guerlain Chicherit.
With Loeb's setback, Brazilian Lucas Moraes had temporarily moved up to second place in the overall standings. However, soon afterwards the Brazilian also faced problems and lost around two hours - also due to a broken suspension - and ended the day with the 45th fastest time and dropped to ninth place overall.
"Today's stage was another great learning experience for us, who have been in this sport for a long time. We managed to finish, but it was tough for everyone - more for some, less for others. The lesson remained, that the Dakar bites," philosophized Baumgart, who is heading with his navigator, Beco Andreotti, to the final stage of the Dakar, which will have 175 timed kilometers to crown the great champions of the 2024 edition.
The X Rally Team is sponsored by Vedacit, Motul, BF Goodrich, Rodobens, Center Norte, Rock and Opaoma
Resultado – ETAPA 11 – CARROS (Top-5)
18/01 – Al Ula > Yanbu – 480 kms
1. Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq (Toyota) – 4h43min00s
2. Guillaume de Mevius/Xavier Panseri (Toyota) - +5min32s
3. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Audi) - +5min35s
4. Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist (Audi) - +9min46s
5. Christian Lavieille/Valentin Sarreaud (MD) - +12min37s
27. Cristian Baumgart/Alberto Andreotti (Prodrive) - +53min32s
CLASSIFICAÇÃO GERAL APÓS 11 ETAPAS – CARROS (TOP-5)
1. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Audi) – 46h24min47s
2. Guillaume de Mevius/Xavier Panseri (Toyota) - +1h26min06s
3. Sebastian Loeb/Fabian Lurquin (Prodrive) - +1h36min02s
4. Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq (Toyota) - +1h41min20s
5. Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka (Ford) - +2h16min47s
13. Cristian Baumgart/Alberto Andreotti (Prodrive) - +4h20min50s
Automatic translation of the Brazilian Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: X-Rally Team's official press release
Photo: Marcelo Machado de Melo/FOTOP
Helder