The most gruelling challenge of this year’s Dakar, the 48-hour-long ‘Chrono’ stage has come to an end.
The competitors had to surf through the empty quarter in the Saudi Arabian desert without any assistance from their teams, nor any outside information, for a period of 48 hours.
This included camping out in the desert, as at 4 PM all competitors were called to the nearest resting spot. Additionally, those who were faster on the first part of the stage were benefitted as they had less terrain to cover on the second day, while those slower were up for a challenge as hard as the one they had faced just hours earlier.
SSVs
Rookie Sara Price surprised with her performance throughout the Chrono stage. What was the most challenging part of the rally seemed to be a comfortable environment for the American, as she placed the fourth fastest time with a penalty of 1 minute.
And penalties weren’t uncommon. All but 5 entrants in the SSVs categories got penalized.
At the top – nothing new. It was Xavier De Soultrait who clinched victory of the stage once again. The French finished with a time that was 1 minute and 5 seconds faster to that of Saudi National Yasir Seaidan, who finished in second place.
Completing the podium was Joao Ferreira from Portugal, another one who seemed comfortable through the empty quarter. He was 3 minutes and 35 seconds away from the leader.
In the overall standings it is Seaidan who leads, followed by Sara Price -who might be a rookie in the Dakar but is no rookie in the world of Rally- and Xavier De Soultrait.
Trucks
Czech Republic’s Martin Macik did it again and won the Chrono stage, which he labelled as the “hardest” in all his years of competing in the Dakar Rally.
The MM’s driver was the fastest through the dunes by far, as second-placed Mitchel Van Der Brink from the Netherlands finished almost an hour later, and more than an hour in the official timings if we account for the 15-minute penalty he received.
Ales Loprais claimed the last spot of the Chrono podium, also with a 15-minute penalty.
Janus Van Kasteren, one who’s been seen at the top consistently, struggled in the empty quarter and lost almost three hours (to be specific: 2 hours, 59 minutes and 56 seconds) to the leader. He was not penalized.
The general standings are dominated by Macik, with Loprais in second by more than an hour and Van Den Brink in third by almost two hours. Van Kasteren dropped to fourth.