Benavides rides to smallest Dakar Rally win margin and Al-Attiyah confirms sixth car title

Brabec was hurtling toward his third Dakar victory. While Benavides' KTM was faster in real time, Brabec's Honda was collecting time bonuses for opening the way and extending his overnight lead of 3 minutes, 20 seconds.

Then seven kilometers from the finish Brabec took a wrong turn. Benavides didn't. He saw a headlight turn around and slowed to see who it was. When he realized it was Brabec, Benavides knew the “almost impossible” was possible.

“I saw the opportunity and I took it,” he said. “I felt ready all day. I told everyone at the start of the stage ‘This Dakar is for me.’”

Benavides finished second on the stage to teammate Edgar Canet, who won his third stage of this Dakar. When Brabec arrived 3:22 behind Benavides, the Argentine's team lifted him on their shoulders and shouted “Lu-chan-oh, Lu-chan-oh.”

“It's unreal,” Benavides said. “Two seconds after two weeks and almost 8,000 kilometers is something that is hard to understand.”

The previous closest margin was 43 seconds by Luciano's older brother Kevin. That was another stunning comeback. Kevin started the 2023 final stage 12 seconds behind and won his second motorbike title.

Brabec's Honda teammate Tosha Schareina was a distant third after coming second last year.

Luciano started his ninth Dakar never having reached the podium and just three months after tearing knee ligaments in the Moroccan Rally.

Even after he started the second week with consecutive stage wins, he rode in the shadow of teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders, who was dominating the race until he crashed on Wednesday and broke his collarbone and sternum. Sanders continued practically riding one-handed and finished fifth for valuable points in the defense of his world rally-raid title.

Brabec won Friday's stage to gather an overall lead that even Benavides thought “was mathematically almost impossible” to overcome.

But, he said, “I never stopped believing. For me there was no strategy any days, I just give my best. I never tried to slow down. I feel bad for Ricky. He did a mistake and (it) cost (him) the Dakar.”

No. 6 for Al-Attiyah

Al-Attiyah confirmed his sixth car title — two behind the record of former teammate Stéphane Peterhansel -- and first for Dacia after a cautious final drive, nearly nine minutes behind Mattias Ekström, who won his car-leading fourth stage.

Nani Roma could hack only six minutes off the overall leader's pace and Al-Attiyah ultimately beat Roma by 9:42, easily the lowest margin of his six victories.

Al-Attiyah has won for four different manufacturers in 2011 and 2015 in Argentina, in 2019 in Peru and in 2022, 2023 and this year in Saudi Arabia.

“I still need to beat Peterhansel's record,” he said.

Al-Attiyah and Belgian navigator Fabian Lurquin both made their Dakar debut in 2004 and remember joking then that they would pair up one day. That happened only six months ago. Luquin, a former airline pilot, followed his father Jean-Marie into the Dakar and has surpassed him with his first Dakar win.

The Qatar-Belgium duo made the decisive move on Wednesday, regaining the lead by 12 minutes in the second half of a marathon stage. In the context of the closest race in more than two decades, the margin was massive.

“It's amazing to win," Al-Attiyah said. “I might not be showing much emotion but it's in my heart. We are so happy and thankful.”

Roma, the 2014 car champion, earned his first podium finish since 2019. Ekström's Ford held off Sébastien Loeb's Dacia by 37 seconds for consecutive third-place finishes. Loeb finished and failed to podium for the first time in 10 years.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing