The Dakar 2024 that starts today in Al-Ula with a 27 km special prologue stage in its fifth Saudi edition (until January 19) will once again be, in the battle of the four wheels, a matter of old foxes, rivals intimates who profess both respect and fear for their experience and wisdom: the fantastic four, the incombustible poker of masters of the wheel, with Carlos Sainz (61), Stéphane Peterhansel (58), Sébastien Loeb (49) and the current champion, Nasser Al-Attiyah (53), aspire to make their respective legends bigger. A 46th Dakar with even more spice than last year: the same four protagonists compete in pairs as neighbors and opponents in the same team and with the same prototype.

Without a doubt, this Dakar marks the end of the cycle in the car category: in addition to Al-Attiyah’s surprising change of steering wheel – from the powerful Toyota Hilux that gave his last three Tuaregs to the Hunter that Prodrive is preparing, with Loeb as a partner –, It is Audi’s farewell edition after three years of hybrid technology all-terrain project, and perhaps also – just perhaps – the farewell of its two references, Peterhansel, Monsieur Dakar, in his 25th participation on four wheels, and Sainz, el Matador, in its 17th edition.

The German manufacturer will be succeeded in the 2025 Dakar by the French Dacia – from the Renault group – and this year, the arrival of Ford led by Nani Roma, returning to the rally after overcoming cancer that caused him to miss 2023.

So, with the permission of the powerful Toyota fleet – with Yazeed Al Rajhi, Lucas Moraes, Giniel de Villiers, and the new signings Guerlain Chichérit, Guillaume de Mevius and the promising Seth Quintero –, the Dakar 2024 should put the focus on the fratricidal struggle between Al Attiyah and Loeb, first and second in the last two editions; the rivals who admire each other the most, especially the Frenchman from Qatar, nine-time world rally champion. Between the two of them they won 10 of the 14 stages of the Dakar 2023… and this year they race with the same Hunter from the Bahrain Raid Xtrem team… before both jumping to the Dacia 2025.

For Al Attiyah, current world rally-raid champion, the challenge in 2024 is huge: he intends to add his sixth Tuareg – he would be two behind Peterhansel – with the fourth different team. “If I win the 2024 Dakar with the Prodrive Hunter I will make history. It’s a great feeling to be with Séb again; I have great respect for him,” says the Qatari.

Nasser, a seasonal resident of Castellfollit del Boix (Bages, Barcelona), knows that Loeb will be much more dangerous this year, since the Frenchman longs for his first Tuareg after seven attempts (with three final second places).

“Now we will race with the same car, but I am not very sure that that will influence our rivalry; We will have the same advantages and disadvantages. I know that Nasser has the spirit of a hunter, so he will go very fast. He is the most capable of adding stage victories and maintaining a constant level,” confesses the Frenchman, who scored seven wins in 2023, but ran out of options on the second day after losing an hour and a half due to three punctures.

Loeb warns of the competition that will come from the official Toyotas, but also from the three Audis, who will want to say goodbye with the first victory of a hybrid car in the Dakar, the RS Q e-tron. The uncertainty remains in the air as to whether it will also be the last Dakar for Peterhansel and Sainz.

“I have always thought when I have gone to a Dakar that it could be the last, but this is not necessarily the most. Indeed, here are some circumstances in which this could be the case. But I’m not considering it today,” commented the Madrid rider, who has been inactive for a long time this season due to an injury to the T5 and T6 vertebrae that he fractured in the previous edition when he fell down a dune in the 9th. stage, and which forced him to retire.

The Madrid native, with his Catalan co-driver Lucas Cruz, hopes to bring victory to Audi. “After what we experienced last year, we hope to be a little more competitive with the extra kW that the FIA ??has given us, although we are still 100 kg heavier than our rivals. Even so, I trust that we will have more equality and be able to fight face to face with them.”

The list of Spaniards in cars (T1 and T2) is completed by Nani Roma, with his new project with Ford, Laia Sanz with Astara, the promising Pau Navarro with Mini, Isidre Esteve with his Toyota T1, in addition to the co-drivers Dani Oliveras and Armand Monleon.

137 motorcyclists dream of the Tuareg, but only a dozen are favorites for a crown defended by Kevin Benavides (KTM), the most repeat winner (2023, 2021) of the last editions in which no one has established his hegemony as they had done by taking turns Cyril Despres and Marc Coma (the last Spanish winner, in 2015).

However, the Argentine fractured his left fibula on December 3 and will race handicapped, so the title of top candidate is inherited by his brother Luciano (with Husqvarna) as the current rally-raid world champion, Toby Price (KTM). , the Gas Gas Sam Sunderland and Daniel Sanders, and the powerful fleet of official Hondas with six pilots, Pablo Quintanilla, Ricky Brabec, Adrien van Beveren, Nacho Cornejo and Skyler Howes, who have been joined by the brand new Valencian Tosha Schareina signing of HRC, which has not missed one of the strongest values.

Tosha, who was 2nd in Sonora, 5th in Morocco and won the Desafío Ruta 40 and the Baja Aragón, faces his third Dakar after two 13th places (he was the second best rookie). The other great Spanish asset is Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco), 9th in 2023 and 6th in 2021, the best Spaniard in recent years. The third in contention will be the Castellón native Joan Barreda (40), who has changed the Honda for a Chinese Hero in what could be his last attempt to conquer the Tuareg.