Rookie Rodrigo Varela surprises in T4, Marcelo Medeiros also won among quadricycles. Moraes gained ten positions and started better than in 2023, when he was on the podium
With 17 registered, the Brazilian representation is the largest and strongest in history at the Dakar Rally, which is taking place in its 2024 edition in Saudi Arabia, with the first special held today (06/01) and ending on January 19th. And on the first day, the Brazilians had exceptional results.
Still experiencing the drama of having to race with a hastily improvised car after the ship carrying its official UTV and equipment had to deviate from its route because of pirates in the Red Sea, the Brazilian duo Rodrigo Varela/Enio Bozzano Junior (Divino Fogão/ Can-Am/Motul/Quadrijet) achieved a surprising victory in today's special, after 414km at high speed, in the UTV T4 category. Varela makes his Dakar debut, competing for a team made up of his family and Brazilian coaches.
Another victory came from driver Marcelo Medeiros (Yamaha Raptor 700, supported by Mardisa/Viação Estrela/Taguatur Fiat/Sedel), who took first place in the Quadricycle category and confirmed his status as favorite for the title. Lucas Moraes (Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+), a great Brazilian revelation in the Dakar 2023, when he debuted on the podium, arrived in sixth place after starting in 16th, gaining ten positions and recording a first special with a better result than that of the year last year, when he finished 12th. In 2024 Lucas will have Spaniard Armand Monleón as his navigator and the support of Red Bull, Repsol, Strava, Oakley, Zapalla. The victory in the car category went to Belgian driver Guillaume de Mevius, with navigation by Frenchman Xavier Panseri, from the Overdrive team.
The special was quite tough, notably due to the presence of large sections covered by rocks and boulders, causing numerous tire punctures. In contrast to this section, the special also presented long stretches of what the Arabs call “fesh-fesh”, a section formed by layers of very fine dust, famous for obstructing vision when there is a storm in the desert. Most conventional vehicles cannot travel in the fech fech, as they get stuck easily. Rodrigo Varela and Enio Bozzano had a broken wheel at this obstacle. The rocky section and the area dominated by fine dust forced the crew to practice quickly changing wheels. This was also the case with Lucas Moraes.
“It was a very, very difficult special. Certainly one of the most complicated that has ever been said in the Dakar. The spreadsheet had many sudden changes in direction, which required a lot of concentration from the navigators – and at this point Armand was perfect, he got everything right. We ended up getting a flat tire in the fine powder section. We didn't take any risks, we were able to always walk on the trail, which was important. I think the result was very good. We arrived. And it was just the first day”, said Lucas Moraes.
“You have no idea how difficult this special was. It looked like a gymkhana. There are zillions of things to pay attention to, to avoid breaking or tearing a tire. And the most curious thing is that getting the wheel stuck in the dust hindered a lot of people, destroyed a lot of wheels and tires”, defined the winner of the T4, Rodrigo Varela.
The current champion of the Cars category, the main one, is Qatari Nasser Al-Atthiya, who this year competes for the Prodrive team with a Hunter model. He didn't escape his problems either. “In the first fifty kilometers we had two flat tires,” he revealed. “From then on we tried to recover lost ground, but it wasn’t easy. I'm very happy, simply because i have finished today's special. It could have been worse”, calculated the current champion, who was replaced in the Toyota Gazoo Racing team by Brazilian Lucas Moraes.
RESULTS
1st Special, 405km, from Al Ula to Al Henakiyah
Category Cars
1. Guillaume de Mevius/Xavier Panseri (Toyota Hilux Overdrive), 4h35min59s
2. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) +1min44s
3. Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) +9min18s
4. Vaidotas Zalas/Paulo Fiuza (Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus) +10min42s
5. Romain Dumas/Max Delfino (Toyota Hilux) +12min18s
6. Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) +13min25s
7. Yazeed Al-Rajhi/Timo Gottschalk (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) +13min39s
8. Mathieu Serradori/Loic Minaudier (Century CR6-T) +14min12s
9. Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist (Audi RS Q e-tron E2) +14min20s
10. Saood Variawa/Francois Cazalet (Toyota GR DKR Hilux) +14min34s
Automatic translation of the Brazilian Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: BestPR
Photo: MCH Photo/TGR
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