The Dakar 2024 that begins today in Al-Ula with a prologue stage (27 km) in the fifth Saudi edition will once again be, in the battle of the four wheels, a matter of old grudges, close rivals who profess both respect and fear for their experience and wisdom: the fantastic four, the incombustible poker of driving masters, with Carlos Sainz (61), Stéphane Peterhansel (58), Sébastien Loeb (49) and the reigning 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 on the same team and the same prototype.
Without a doubt, this Dakar marks the end of a cycle in the car category: in addition to Al-Attiyah's surprising change of steering wheel - from the powerful Toyota Hilux that gave him the last three Tuaregs to the Hunter prepared by Prodrive, with Loeb from company–, is Audi's farewell edition after three years of hybrid technology off-road project, and maybe also – just maybe – the farewell edition of its two references, Peterhansel, Monsieur Dakar, in its 25th participation on four wheels, and Sainz, the Matador, in its 17th edition. The German manufacturer will be succeeded in the Dakar 2025 by the French Dacia - of the Renault group - and this year, the arrival of Ford with Nani Roma, back in the rally after overcoming cancer that caused him to miss the 2023 one.
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 focus on the fratricidal fight between Al-Attiyah and Loeb, first and second in the last two editions; the rivals who admire each other the most, especially the Qatari to the French, nine times world rally champion. Between them they won 10 of the 14 stages of the Dakar in 2023...and this year they race with the same Hunter from the Bahrain Raid Xtrem team...before they both move to Dacia in 2025.
For Al-Attiyah, reigning world rally-raids champion, the challenge this 2024 is capital: he aims to add the sixth Tuareg – he would be two behind Peterhansel – with the fourth different team. "If I win the Dakar 2024 with the Prodrive Hunter I will make history. It's a great feeling to be with Séb again; I feel great respect for it", comments the Qatari.
Nasser, a neighbor for seasons in Castellfollit del Boix (Bages), knows that Loeb will be much more dangerous this year, as the Frenchman longs for the first Tuareg after seven attempts (with three second-place finishes). “Now we will race with the same car, but I am not very sure that this will influence our rivalry; we will have the same advantages and disadvantages. I know 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 aimed for seven victories in 2023, but ran out of options on the second day because he lost an hour and a half due to three punctures.
Loeb warns of the competition they will face from the official Toyotas, but also from the three Audis, who will want to say goodbye with the first triumph 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 went to a Dakar, that it could be the last, but not necessarily the most. Indeed, here are some circumstances in which this could be the case. But I don't think about it today", commented the Madrid pilot, who has been inactive for a long time this season due to the injury to the T5 and T6 vertebrae, which he fractured in the previous edition after falling down a dune in the 9th stage, which forced him to retire.
The Madrid native, with 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, even though we are still 100 kg heavier than our rivals. However, I trust that we will have more equality and be able to fight face-to-face with them."
The roster of Spaniards in cars (categories T1 and T2) is completed by Nani Roma, with the new project with Ford; Laia Sanz, with Astara; the promising young man Pau Navarro, with Mini; Isidre Esteve, with the Toyota T1, in addition to co-drivers Dani Oliveras and Armand Monleon.
