On the most difficult day for Brazilians, navigator Cadu Sachs came 7th in the Challenger category and maintained his second place in that group
For the second year in a row, a breakdown hampered Brazilian Lucas Moraes in the fight for the unprecedented title for Brazil in the Dakar Rally, a competition that began on January 4 and will end next Friday, January 17, on the route in Saudi Arabia. Still at kilometer 17 of the 605 contested on Saturday (11), the driver and Spanish navigator Armand Monleón stopped for almost two hours to replace the shock absorbers and repair the rear suspension of their Toyota GR DKR Hilux.
The duo, who had been in fifth place in the overall standings, with chances of fighting for the podium or even the unprecedented victory for Brazil, managed to return to the race, but now with reduced chances in the fight for the podium. Moraes and Monleón will continue in the race in search of points for the World Rally Raid Championship, in which they also finished in an unprecedented third place for Brazil in 2024, in the São Paulo driver's first participation.
*Night risk in the dunes - Moraes and Monleón, who also suffered a breakdown in last year's Dakar, are competing in the Ultimate category, considered the Formula 1 of rallying. Another Brazilian who stands out in this Dakar is navigator Cadu Sachs, who is competing in a Taurus T3 Max alongside Portuguese driver Gonçalo Guerreiro in the Challenger category, for lightweight prototypes built especially for competition. On Saturday, the pair finished in seventh position. The result, however, keeps the duo in second place in the category, with Argentinian duo Nicolas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini (Taurus T3 Max) holding the lead since the first day of this 47th edition of the Dakar.
“It was a difficult day,” said driver Gonçalo Guerreiro, partner of Brazilian Cadu Sachs. “We arrived at night and that was a giant mistake (by the organization), there are still many cars on the track (that didn't arrive),” he criticized, drawing attention to the potential increased risk of driving at high speed through the desert dunes. “We didn't miss any way points, but we had another flat tire and, of course, we lost time changing the wheel. Anyway, we made it to the end and we're focused on finishing this Dakar,” he concluded.
Leadership - The Mini X-Raid of the duo Guillaume de Mevius (Belgium)/Mathieu Baumel (France) won the overall classification of the race, and the Ultimate category, with a time of 4h34min49s over the 605km timed course. Moraes and Monleón came 46th and dropped from fifth to 14th place in the six stages. The lead in the overall standings is held by the Toyota GR DKR Hilux of South African duo Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, with a time of 32h51min36s for the 3,135km timed route covered up to Saturday. Brazilian duo Marcos Moraes and Maykel Justo, who drive a Toyota Overdrive, came in 29th position and are in 19th place overall. They also crossed the finish line at night. “It wasn't easy to drive through the dunes at night, but Maykel did very well,” said Moraes. The Century CR7 of Brazilian Marcelo Gastaldi and Frenchman Adrien Metge was the 19th car to cross the finish line on Saturday and now occupies 22nd place in the sum of all the stages in the race.
According to figures updated by the organization, there are still six more stages to go, which add up to 1,735km of timed sections, i.e. trails valid for the race. So far, the Dakar has covered 3,135km against the clock - out of a total now planned of 4,870. Adding 2,659km corresponding to the displacements (stretches that are not valid for the race and are used to get to the starting point or back to camp), at the end of the race the competitors will have covered 7,529km between deserts, volcanic and steep stretches.
Automatic translation of the Brazilian Portuguese version
Source: BestPR
Photo: Flavien Duhamel/Red Bull Pool Content
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