After two long, exciting weeks, the 2024 Dakar Rally comes to its last stage. It won’t be a tough one, but there are still fights going on for the overall win in some categories. Therefore, it could be decisive anyway.
Stage 12 is going to be 174 km long, and those who are chasing the leader will try anything to close the gap as much as possible.
SSVs
Xavier de Soultrait received a penalty of 10 minutes before the start of the stage. This meant that his lead in the general rankings shrunk to just 2′ 49″ ahead of Jérôme De Sadeleer, making this final stage even more interesting.
Throughout the stage, the gap between the two decreased even more, and with 20 km to go, they were separated by just 1′ 34″.
In the end, Vayssade won the stage, 1 minute ahead of Ferreira and 1′ 11″ ahead of de Sadeleer. The latter didn’t manage to dethrone de Soultrait in the general standings, as he finished 2′ 25″ short. Seaidan completed the podium, more than 1 hour back.
Trucks
Martin Macík is more than 2 hours ahead of his closest rival Aleš Loprais in the general standings. Without any unexpected problems, he should be able to take the win of the 2024 Dakar Rally.
Loprais won the stage, ahead of Valtr and Van Kasteren by 1′ 30″ and 1′ 44″ respectively. However, Macík dominated the whole rally, finishing first in the general standings by almost 2 hours in front of Loprais. Van Den Brink was third, almost four hours and a half back.