Dakar 2024: Carlos Sainz and Adrien Van Beveren take the lead halfway through the 48-hour marathon stage

Carlos Sainz en tête à mi-parcours de la sixième étape du Dakar 2024. MAXPPP – Gerard Laurenssen

The Spaniard Carlos Sainz was virtually in the lead of the Dakar-2024 on Thursday after stopping at the competitors' bivouacs, halfway through the 6th marathon stage known as "48h00 clock" and spread over two days. On the motorbike, Adrien Van Beveren is in the lead.

At km 398 (out of 550 km of special), the timing point with the most complete classification before the race was suspended at 4:00 p.m., as expected, the 61-year-old veteran set the best time.

Sainz leads his Audi teammate Matthias Ekström by more than a quarter of an hour, and leaves the Prodrive drivers at a good distance for the moment: Nasser Al -Attiyah lost a lot of time and clocked in at around 22 minutes. Sébastien Loeb (provisionally third in the stage at 5 min 19) has regained some, but remains fourth overall at almost 37 min.

Stage 6️⃣ – Cars 🚗

Provisional top 3 after 347km:
1️⃣ Carlos Sainz ⏱ 4:43:17
2️⃣ Mattias Ekström ⏱+5'29''
3️⃣ Sébastien Loeb ⏱+5'53’'

Follow the race live 👉https://t.co/BrruP0oEtI#Dakar2024 pic.twitter.com/xfKla4qYDN

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 11, 2024

This half-stage caused two notable victims: the former leader of the classification, the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi, retired after rolling over several times and seriously damaging his Toyota. He and his teammate are safe.

Other cursed of the day: "Mr Dakar" Stéphane Peterhansel, was stranded in the middle of the desert at midday, victim of a hydraulic failure which prevented him from operating the jack to change a wheel, and which deprived him of power steering.

Leaving at dawn, the competitors were obliged to stop at a fixed time to reach one of the seven bivouacs set up in the desert. Without assistance, without information on the classification and without means of communication, they had to spend the night “roughly”, in tents or under the stars, before completing the ;stage Friday.

Adrien Van Beveren in the lead at the last timing point

The Frenchman Adrien van Beveren took the lead on Thursday at the Dakar in the first part of the 6th stage, known as "48h chrono" and spread over two days, while the American Ricky Brabec is still virtual leader overall.

Adrien Van Beveren in the lead halfway through the sixth stage of the 2024 Dakar. DAKAR PRESS TEAM – ANDREW EATON

At the last full timing point before the race was suspended at 4:00 p.m., as planned, van Beveren was ahead of his teammate at Honda Brabec by 1 min 21 sec. Australian Toby Price was third at 1 min 49.

In the virtual general, Brabec leads the Botswanan Ross Branch (Hero Motorsports) by 2 min 48, and the Chilean Jose Cornejo (Honda) by 6 min 37. Van Beveren gets closer at 13 min 02 of the leader, in fourth position.

Stage 6️⃣ – Bikes 🏍

Provisional top 3 after 58km:
1️⃣ Adrien Van Beveren ⏱5:22:48
2️⃣ Ricky Brabec ⏱+37''
3️⃣ Toby Price ⏱+2'05''

Follow the race live 👉https://t.co/BrruP0pcjg#Dakar2024 pic.twitter.com/1r7pTLSeKy

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 11, 2024

Pablo Quintanilla, winner of Wednesday's stage, was the unlucky one of the day. He ran out of fuel about ten kilometers from the first refueling point, and lost almost an hour and a half, the time it took to be repaired.

The drivers at the front of the race have already covered 513 km, and they only have about a hundred left to complete on Friday morning to complete this marathon stage, after sleeping "roughly" under the tent, without assistance or communication possible.