Extended highlights of Stage 7 presented by Aramco - #Dakar2024
The fifth edition of the Dakar in Saudi Arabia promises to push man and machine harder than any of the previous ones.
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https://www.dakar.com
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#Dakar2024
© Amaury Sport Organisation - https://www.aso.fr
More information:
https://www.dakar.com
https://www.facebook.com/Dakar
https://www.twitter.com/Dakar
https://www.instagram.com/DakarRally
#Dakar2024
© Amaury Sport Organisation - https://www.aso.fr
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Tell me when.
00:07 Hey everyone, welcome to your daily Dakar highlights.
00:14 And we start with the news of the Japanese competitors here at the rally.
00:17 There are six in total.
00:18 Mason!
00:19 What?
00:20 What the hell are you doing man?
00:21 This is my gig.
00:22 I'm just working here man.
00:23 You got nothing better to do?
00:24 No.
00:25 Did you find your bike yet?
00:26 No.
00:27 Ok, get on into the dunes, find your bike, let me do my job man.
00:29 Alright, on my way.
00:30 Thanks for your help man.
00:31 You're welcome.
00:32 We had technical checks on four cars of the challenger category and two were found in
00:51 non-conformity and these two cars were the Gokshal cars.
00:54 The clutch disc was in carbon and the carbon is a forbidden material in the challenger
00:59 category.
01:00 For cost reasons, non-conformity was obvious.
01:08 So that was the big news overnight.
01:09 Eric Gokshal disqualified from Rally Dakar 2024.
01:14 Today we went through the halfway point and after a gruelling opening seven days, the
01:18 riders must have needed to rest.
01:23 The bike's great, the team's looking good.
01:25 I feel, I don't need a rest day, I'm ready to go.
01:30 Looking forward to a long week but obviously we've got to keep a cool head.
01:34 You know, it's easy to overstep the limit here and make a big mistake.
01:38 Get out of here in one piece, that's the main goal.
01:40 But yeah, to have some hardware and a trophy in the hands would be nice.
01:44 Talk about made of sterner stuff.
01:46 These boys are different gravy and they were on the road just after 4am.
01:50 It looks like it's going to be a very long, tricky day navigating.
01:56 So yeah, we'll see.
01:57 Hopefully we don't get lost and we can make some good time.
02:02 Probably the most difficult navigation stage.
02:04 For sure it's going to be really tricky.
02:06 So we'll try to take good decisions, try to push from the back but being smart.
02:11 The longest stage of the year by the chrono and the second longest in the five years we've
02:15 been in Saudi.
02:16 The team must return to Al Duadimi where Nacho had won on stage two.
02:25 Naturally we always talk about the guys at the top of the tree, like Branche here.
02:29 But I want to mention three we don't often highlight.
02:37 First up, Dakar legend Stefan Svitko, second to Toby Price in 2016.
02:42 He has five top tens already and the Slovakian is heading that way again.
02:47 Next, privateer Martin Micek, 10th in 21, 11th last year.
02:54 The Czech is heading towards another impressive result despite an injured hand and clutch
02:58 and brake problems.
03:00 And riding only his fourth Dakar, seems like he's been around for longer than that, is
03:04 Chucky Sanders.
03:05 He broke his femur in May but he's seventh again at the moment, 37 minutes back.
03:10 He's winner though, Chile's Nacho Corneco.
03:12 I'll resist the temptation for cheesy or corny gags but were it not for stage five, the Honda
03:16 man would be much closer to the top.
03:20 I wasn't feeling really comfortable in the beginning.
03:25 I was fighting with the bike a little bit and I kept going, going, going even if I was
03:30 not fully comfortable and I think we did a good job anyway so I'm happy.
03:35 After a three minute penalty for Kevin, Luciano Benavidez finished second for the second time.
03:40 Like Nacho, it's only a setback on stage five that means he's not leading the rally.
03:49 I did some changes on the bike, on my setting and yeah, I feel better.
03:53 I think I did good even though I did some mistakes at the beginning of the stage.
03:58 I think my rhythm in general was quite okay so I'm happy.
04:03 He's asked me to refer to Kevin as Luciano's brother but I should point out Benavidez Sr.
04:08 is the reigning Dakar champion, a second South American treble and the first time since stage
04:13 one we've had three different manufacturers at the top.
04:16 It was a tough stage, really, really hard.
04:20 A lot of navigation.
04:22 I think I did a good work.
04:23 Also with my brother we pushed quite a lot so we need to continue this way.
04:30 Conclusions - if the stage is long and finishes in Al Duadimi, Cornejo is basically guaranteed
04:35 victory.
04:36 A single second separates Brabeck and Branche after 32 hours and 37 minutes of racing.
04:43 One second is a lot now, you know.
04:46 One second is still a long way from the finish.
04:50 Tonight's quad lines - triple stage winner Medeiros leads before crashing out completely.
04:55 Overall leader Anduka sets fastest time but a penalty overturns the result.
04:59 Racing champion Giroud takes a third win and slashes his overall deficit to six minutes.
05:04 Nail biting.
05:11 Martin Maciek crossed the finish line of the special with the fastest time, again clinching
05:16 a third stage win in a row.
05:18 He's dominating this game of turbocharged chest with his rivals Lopres and Van den Brink
05:23 while title holder Van Kasteren is nearly four hours back.
05:27 It's not quite checkmate yet but Maciek leads by over an hour and a half.
05:37 Bright lights, big prizes, the ultimate class is hotting up.
05:41 Not really in contention overall but having outstanding rallies are these guys.
05:45 Czech pair Martin Prokop and Victor Cidka.
05:48 After a disastrous start they've been steadily climbing in their Ford Raptor.
05:52 They've reached sixth tonight, the same place they finished last year with a two minute
05:56 ten second advantage over Mathieu Cerradori.
05:59 South Africa has two crews in the top ten in ninth Guy Brotteril and Brett Cummings.
06:04 Their results graph looks like a hospital heart rate EKG readout but up and down is
06:08 kind of working for them on their Dakar debut together.
06:12 Half an hour ahead of them in fifth is the extraordinary experience of Ginni de Villiers
06:16 who's competing for the 21st time.
06:19 Won in 2009 as only once finished outside the top ten.
06:25 Matthias Ekström was second this morning.
06:27 Sebastian and Carlos are very fast so for me it's very good to have them in front but
06:33 like always we will do our best.
06:35 It looked like Ekström got caught in a dust storm.
06:38 Devastation for the Swede and co-driver Emil Bergqvist.
06:42 47k into the special and they lost over four hours.
06:53 Left rear upright, as you see, left rear upright.
06:58 The lower bracket, three k-nuts was loose and now we are trying to repair.
07:07 Teammates Stephan Pederhansel and Edouard Boulanger stopped and tried to help but in
07:10 the end the decision was made for them to carry on.
07:16 Carlos Sainz didn't need their help though.
07:18 Another consistent solid performance from him.
07:20 Fourth place leaves him still leading Dakar 46 with five days to go.
07:30 Nasser Alatia, like Pederhansel, remains in the rally to fight for W2RC points and to
07:36 help teammate Seb Loeb.
07:37 Third today for the Qatari desert king who's still reeling from Friday's disaster.
07:44 With Ekström out of contention, 2023's top rookie Lucas Moraes is into the top three.
07:49 We're up today and the Toyota Gazoo Racing Man is fast and consistent.
07:54 Stage five put pay to his chances of lifting the trophy in Yambou.
07:58 BRX this morning said overturning a 30-minute lead over six stages would be a tall order.
08:03 Six minutes per day needed.
08:04 He took ten today.
08:05 How do you like them apples?
08:08 There's still one man in front so we'll keep going like this.
08:12 We had a very good stage.
08:13 We couldn't really have done better based on how complicated the navigation was and
08:17 the fact that we were opening so I'm very happy.
08:21 Does he dare to dream of a first ever Dakar win?
08:25 He's still behind science but he, Fabien Leclerc and the pro-drive Hunter go from strength
08:30 to strength.
08:31 A third victory puts them within touching distance of the Spanish duo.
08:39 The challenger class was turned upside down overnight with that disqualification for Eric
08:43 Gottschall and his uncle Michal.
08:44 And with that blow to Eric's pride, Mitch Guthrie said, "Call on me."
08:48 Reigning champion Austin Jones led the entire day but somehow lost half an hour after 427k
08:54 of racing.
08:55 Guthrie cruised home.
08:57 In T4, Xavier de Soltry was second on the stage.
09:00 That was enough to go to the top of the T4 leaderboard.
09:04 Jao Ferreira won the stage.
09:05 But the big news, Yasser Seydan slipped off the top of the classification.
09:14 The Frenchman has a 7 minute 30 cushion with Sarah Price in third.
09:18 As we finish, we pay tribute to the man who started it all, founder of the Paris-Dakar
09:24 rally Thierry Sabine.
09:26 Today marks the 38th anniversary of the tragic helicopter accident in Mali in which he died.
09:32 Along with singer-songwriter Daniel Belavoine, journalist Nathalie Audon, soundman Jean-Paul
09:37 Lefeur and the pilot Xavier Bagnou.
09:39 Competitors and organisation alike endeavour each and every day to continue Thierry's legacy
09:44 and vision we will never forget.
09:47 [wind]
09:57 [BLANK_AUDIO]