Benavides rides to smallest Dakar Rally win margin and Al-Attiyah confirms sixth car title

YANBU, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Luciano Benavides exploited a navigation blunder by Ricky Brabec minutes from the finish of the Dakar Rally to sensationally win the motorbike title on Saturday by two seconds — the smallest margin ever.

Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Attiyah safely secured his sixth car title on the 13th and final stage, a flat-out 105-kilometer sprint along the Red Sea coast to Yanbu.

Advertisement

Brabec was hurtling toward his third Dakar victory. While Benavides’ KTM was faster in real time, Brabec’s Honda was collecting time bonuses for opening the way and extending his overnight lead of 3 minutes, 20 seconds.

Then seven kilometers from the finish Brabec took a wrong turn. Benavides didn’t. He saw a headlight turn around and slowed to see who it was. When he realized it was Brabec, Benavides knew the “almost impossible” was possible.

“I saw the opportunity and I took it,” he said. “I felt ready all day. I told everyone at the start of the stage ‘This Dakar is for me.’”

Benavides finished second on the stage to teammate Edgar Canet, who won his third stage of this Dakar. When Brabec arrived 3:22 behind Benavides, the Argentine’s team lifted him on their shoulders and shouted “Lu-chan-oh, Lu-chan-oh.”

Advertisement

“It’s unreal,” Benavides said. “Two seconds after two weeks and almost 8,000 kilometers is something that is hard to understand.”

The previous closest margin was 43 seconds by Luciano’s older brother Kevin. That was another stunning comeback. Kevin started the 2023 final stage 12 seconds behind and won his second motorbike title.

Brabec’s Honda teammate Tosha Schareina was a distant third after coming second last year.

Luciano started his ninth Dakar never having reached the podium and just three months after tearing knee ligaments in the Moroccan Rally.

Even after he started the second week with consecutive stage wins, he rode in the shadow of teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders, who was dominating the race until he crashed on Wednesday and broke his collarbone and sternum. Sanders continued practically riding one-handed and finished fifth for valuable points in…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/benavides-rides-smallest-dakar-rally-120252247.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-01-17 12:02:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.