Dakar 2024: in the “48h chrono”, a double French victory with Sébastien Loeb (car) and Adrien Van Beveren (motorcycle)

Sébastien Loeb réussit son pari et remporte la 6e étape. Dakar Press Team – Gerard Laurenssen

Les Français Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) et Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) ont remporté la 6e étape "48h chrono" du Dakar, respectivement en auto et en moto.

Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive) won the 6th stage of the Dakar on Friday morning, known as "48 hours", by winning ahead of veteran Carlos Sainz, leader in the general ranking.

This is a successful bet for Loeb, who had chosen during the day on Wednesday to lose several minutes, to leave far from the leaders on Thursday and regain time in following the tracks.

Sébastien Loeb succeeds in his bet and wins the 6th stage. MAXPPP – Red Bull Media

Finally, he won in 7 h 21'56'' in front of the 61-year-old Spaniard – who point at 2'01'' and takes the lead in the ranking – and the Swede Mattias Ekström.

This is the 2nd stage victory – the 25th in total – during this edition of the Dakar for the nine-time world rally champion, after his success during the 4th special.

However the day before, Loeb was only third, behind Sainz, at the end of the first part of this 6th stage "48 hours flat", a 780 km loop in the desert with more than 600 km of special stages for motorcycles and nearly 550 for cars.

🏁 Stage 6️⃣ – Cars 🚗

Provisional top 3:
🥇 Sébastien Loeb
🥈 Carlos Sainz
🥉 Mattias Ekström

👏 @SebastienLoeb wins the 48H stage, his 2nd stage win in #Dakar2024

🏆 Leader until the rest @CSainz_oficial finishes 2nd and takes the overall lead!

Follow the other categories… pic.twitter.com/ZpRiESscXJ

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 12, 2024

This stage caused several notable victims: the former leader of the ranking, the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi, retired on Thursday after rolling over several times and seriously damaging his Toyota.

Friday morning, Nasser al-Attiyah, reigning Dakar winner, and his teammate Mathieu Baumel encountered a mechanical problem which could cost the Qatari a third consecutive victory.

Other cursed: "Mr Dakar" Stéphane Peterhansel – 14 victories – was stranded in the middle of the desert on Thursday, victim of a hydraulic failure which prevented him from operating the jack to change a wheel, and which deprived him of power steering.

The Top 5 in the general classification (auto) after the 6th stage

1. Carlos Sainz (ESP) 24:59:32

2. Mattias Ekström (SWE) at 20:21

3. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 29:31

4. Lucas Moraes (BRA) 1:04:00

5. Guillaume De Mévius (BEL) 1:09:47

On a motorbike, Van Beveren wins

The Frenchman Adrien van Beveren (Honda) won the 6th stage of the Dakar-2024 on Friday morning, known as "48h chrono" and spread over two days in the motorcycle category.

He won in 7h57'29'' ahead of the Australian Toby Price and the&#39 ;American Ricky Brabec, new leader in the general classification.

This is his fourth victory during the Dakar since his first participation in 2016. Adrien van Beveren, who for his part occupies fourth place overall, had already taken the lead on Thursday in the first part of this 6th stage .

🏁 Stage 6️⃣ – Bikes 🏍

Provisional top 3:
🥇 Adrien Van Beveren
🥈 Toby Price
🥉 Ricky Brabec

💪 @A_Vanbeveren wins the 48H stage and @rickyB357 is the new overall leader! 🏆

Follow the other categories live 👉https://t.co/BrruP0oEtI#Dakar2024 pic.twitter.com/ktYdFMj7y5

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 12, 2024

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'1'21'& #39;. Toby Price was third at 1'49''. In the end, the Australian took second place, 4'13'' by Van Beveren. Brabec points at 5'02''.

The drivers at the front of the race had already covered 513 km the day before. They only had about a hundred kilometers left to complete on Friday morning to complete this marathon stage, after having slept “roughly” during the day. under the tent, without assistance or communication possible.

The Top 5 in the general classification (motorcycle) after the 6th stage

1. Ricky Brabec (USA) 27:11:21

2. Ross Branch (BOT) at 51

3. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA) 9:21

4. Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo (CHI) 14:14

5. Toby Price (AUS) 27:00