Honda wins big: Ricky Brabec takes the 2024 Dakar

Having run a consistent race, Ricky Brabec won just one stage, which came with the tenth special, to secure his second Dakar Rally victory. A frontrunner right from the start, the American benefited from almost 20’ of time adjustments that helped him to achieve his second win in Saudi Arabia.

Honda back to winning ways after two years

At the start of the millennium, the Dakar was dominated by KTM for almost twenty years, the Australian manufacturer winning every year from 2001 to 2019, in both Africa and the South America editions. But things have changed in recent years, the race now staged in Saudi Arabia. In 2020, the first ‘Arab’ Dakar was won by Ricky Brabec with the Honda CRF 450 Rally while 2021 saw Kevin Benavides score another victory for the Japanese manufacturer. KTM took the following two editions, with Sam Sunderland (riding the GasGas, a KTM brand) and Kevin Benavides, who had switched to the Austrian manufacturer. Now in its fifth edition, the Arabian Dakar is back in Japanese hands. The Tokyo-based manufacturer has dominated this year’s race to place two bikes on the final podium. And the 2024 Dakar could have been even more triumphant for the manufacturer had José Ignacio Cornejo Florimo not had problems on the final day of the race, missing out on fourth place and finishing sixth behind the factory KTMs. Another rider to put in an impressive performance was Tosha Schareina, winner of the Prologue before having to retire, while Stage 5 winner could have done much more had he not run out of fuel in one of the final stages, losing more than an hour as a result.

In a sea of Hondas, the only man to fight to the last against Ricky Brabec was Hero Motosports rider Ross Branch. The Botswanan led the way during the first days of the Dakar, before ultimately being passed by Brabec, though the American had just a one second advantage over the African at the end of stage nine. Despite not winning, Hero and Ross Branch have enjoyed their best ever Dakar, the rider’s previous best a thirteenth-place finish in the 2019 edition, which was his first Dakar. Adrien Van Beveren also reaches the final podium for the first time. Despite winning two stages, one more than his team-mate, the Frenchman finished 15 minutes behind Brabec.

The KTM platoon

Not the Dakar that the Austrian troops expected, with the factory KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas riders never really in the running. Able to take just three Stage wins, all at the hands of Kevin Benavides, it was not enough to be able to fight for the final podium, with the 2023 winner placing fourth this time around. He was followed by Toby Price, with Luciano Benavides seventh on the Husqvarna and Daniel Sanders eighth with the RedBull GasGas Factory Racing.

Historic Rally2 victory for Harith Noah

With Italian Paolo Lucci out of the running, the overall Rally2 win went to Sherco TVS Rally Factory rider Harith Noah, who brings India its first ever Dakar victory. The Rally2 class battle was frenetic, with Harith, who moved into the lead with just two stages to go, ultimately closing 4’57” ahead of Romain Dumontier, with Bradley Cox placing third (6’28”).