DAKAR 2023 – BENAVIDES BLASTS TO VICTORY

With a 12sec lead, six-time Finke Desert Race winner Toby Price looked set to the 2023 Dakar win in what was the shortest and fastest stage of the rally, but the elder Benavides brother led all the way to win the 2023 event by a margin of 43 seconds. American Skyler Howes finished third, a further five minutes in arrears. The win restores the Dakar podium to KTM after a run of outs over the past three years.

For the 45th edition of the foremost New Year’s motorsport spectacular, the Amuary Sport Organisation had plotted an exodus of epic magnitude. An epic 8000km traversing the inhospitable sandy wilderness linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Arabia.

Five divisions of petrolheads together with a legion of lithium enthusiasts were fully geared up to take on the challenge; few with aspirations of a podium, the majority with no more than the hope of sighting the far-distant coastline while still in one piece. From current and former world champions to the lowliest gofers, their expectations would be rent asunder as they realised they would be at the mercy of the unpredictable terrain, and the even more unpredictable weather; simply facing each day as it came.

SATURDAY

“Super excited” was the phrase used by no less than six of the factory riders to the white-robed prince of public relations before the prologue. Certainly the phrase proved apt for José Ignatio Cornejo Florimo – ‘Nacho’ to his mates – who highsided his HRC Honda into the very first turn of the 13km prologue. The winner was Toby Price, electing to start Stage 1 in 26th position, three minutes behind Daniel Sanders; both with an early advantage over all the main contenders.

SUNDAY

Obliged to open the piste, Nacho spent most of the day alone. Then, less than 50 kilometres from the flag, and in the space of 90 seconds, he was relegated to ninth place by Mason Klein, Daniel Sanders, Pablo Quintanilla, Joan Barreda Bort, Kevin Benevides, Toby Price and Ricky Brabec.

Sanders held off Quintanilla, claiming the stage lead from Klein, and that’s how they finished. Until all three place-getters copped penalties for speed-zone infringements, elevating Brabec, Benevides and Toby Price to the Stage 1 podium, with less than 60 seconds separating the top five.

MONDAY

Brabec was forced to take point duty, but shortly after the refuel Sanders took the lead in close company with Price, Klein and Skyler Howes. Having copped a few friendly jibes about letting the veterans do all the difficult navigation, 21-year-old Klein responded with a burst of speed to hit the front and win Stage 2 over Sebastian Bühler and Howes in third; making it a historic one-three for the USA. Though, somewhere out in the ravines, Sanders stopped for what he called “a picnic”, later explaining, “even with the time bonus, there’s no point in leading out in the morning.”

TUESDAY

Under the new rules, the first riders to reach the refuelling point on Stage 3 received advice about their bonuses. Klein, who opened the stage, was only 5m45s behind Sanders but received a 5m52s discount elevating him to a 7sec lead. Similarly, Howes’s discount put him only 9sec behind Sanders and 4sec behind Brabec. Confusing, and certainly not something to figure out while dodging jagged lumps of granite, metre-deep washouts and rising rivers. Possibly with too much maths on his mind, Brabec crashed out before the next waypoint.

WEDNESDAY

Dismissing everything he’d previously said about taking it easy and not wishing to be first rider out, Sanders took off in search of bonus discounts and was soon joined by Howes and Klein, navigating their way across the first long section of dunes in the rally. Light rain assisted their cause but, despite several falls, only Howes held on to a Stage 4 podium; the top-two positions taken by the Hondas of Barreda and Quintanilla, while Klein lost six positions fiddling with a dodgy fuel pump.

THURSDAY

Facing sand, sand dunes, more sand and camel grass, with nothing more than a compass bearing, Barreda dropped 10 positions in the opening 37km but held point until the refuel. After which, collectively or individually, Barreda, Quintanilla, Howes and Price took the wrong direction, wasting precious fuel for the best part of 15 minutes retracing their tracks. Not so Adrien Van Beveren and Nacho who veered left at the right clump of camel grass to take the Stage 5 quinella. Bühler ran out of fuel while his Hero teammates fared worse; Branch with an engine malfunction and Joaquim Rodrigues with a terminal crash.

FRIDAY

Sanders had persevered through the previous day, recovering from food poisoning, dodgy water, or maybe a virus. No mention was made that, after a year of surgeries, he was lacking match fitness and suffering from exhaustion. A few overnight suspension tweaks and Sanders soldiered on to remain in contention. As did Luciano Benavides who, after becoming lost – going gardening in Dakar parlance – in Stage 2, ripped across the dunes to win Stage 6 ahead of Howes – a historic quinella for Husqvarna.

SATURDAY

After re-routing to the blacktop to complete Stage 6 the ASO advised that “due to the weather problems and the level of fatigue observed among all the riders, we’ve decided to cancel the stage.” Possibly there was no roadbook, leaving no alternative. The decision was that Stage 7 would be trimmed and become Stage 8. There were no objections from the weary, saturated riders.

SUNDAY

A strange day indeed as Howes, then Price, quickly caught opener Luciano Benavides, the trio surfing the dunes at a comfortable pace before being joined by Luciano’s brother, Kevin; closely followed by Quintanilla, Barreda and Nacho. After which they rode line astern out front, their only objective was to make it to the rest day.

Out alone, Klein set the fastest time for Stage 8 by a big margin, though a 2min speed-zone penalty dropped him to third behind Branch and Sanders.

MONDAY

Rest, recuperation and, above all, retrospection. After six days, 2800km of extreme conditions and over 100 hours in the saddle – 30 at race pace – little had changed: other than that Sunderland, Brabec, Rodrigues and, Division 2 star, Brad Cox had been medivacced out of the event. Contenders and team managers could speculate all they wished, however no one could predict incidences such as Barreda’s clash with Price, almost ending Price’s – and his own – hopes of reaching the finish. Nor could anyone predict the cold, wet weather and flash flooding which had the power to bring everyone undone.

TUESDAY

The stage after the rest day was to be the last of the really long stages, but not for Barreda who crashed out less than 10 minutes from the start. Then, just before the refuel, Howes and Sanders lost the plot, soon to be joined Kevin Benavides, Van Beveren, Walkner and Klein – who’d already crashed and destroyed his roadbook. All the lead riders spent 15 minutes or more doing circle work on a rocky plateau scoured with mud holes. Luciano was the first to benefit from this confusion, becoming the first rider to win a second stage of the rally; barely a minute ahead of Price.

WEDNESDAY

Undies, thermals, socks, knee braces, pants, boots, body armour, air vest, jacket, hand tape, neck brace, helmet, goggles, and finally gloves. All for a four ayem start on a freezing, six-hour liason to the ‘empty quarter’ – the largest true desert on  the planet.

Stage 10 was by far the shortest of the event, one which none of the remaining top contenders wished to win, all scheming for someone else to lead the way. Ross Branch obliged, but Kevin Benavides hung with him, finishing fourth. Price held back, completing the stage just inside the top-20. Two totally opposed strategies from two former Dakar champions.

THURSDAY

With the reliability of the bikes, marathon stages no longer pose the challenges of the past. Tyre wear and damage to the navigation tower in the inevitable falls being the biggest risks. Luciano Benavides won Stage 11 – his third – just ahead of Sanders, who put in an outstanding effort to finish second ahead of Price. All three riders were eligible for bonus discounts on the second half of the Marathon.

Howes had the advantage of starting directly behind his main adversary while Kevin Benavides, starting from 10th, appeared best placed to gain time on both his rivals.

FRIDAY

An outstanding effort by Sanders on Stage 12 consolidated his top-10 position as Price moved into the overall lead ahead of Howes and Kevin Benavides. If Dakar was compared to MotoGP, these three riders would be less than half-a-second apart, with all the rest of the competitors having been lapped at least once. With less than 300km to the finish line it’s doubtful there’s enough time to close the gap to Price and Howes. Bradbury aside, no one else had a chance in hell.

SATURDAY

So close, yet so far. Price wasn’t the only rider to suffer a fitful night’s rest, though Ruben Saldaña Goñi, having spent over 80 hours in the saddle on the special stages and acquiring 20 hours of penalties – none of them for speeding – probably slept like a log.

Stage 13 proved unlucky for Walkner who – desperate to hold his top-10 position crashed out, attended to by teammate Kevin Benavides until the medivac arrived. Up front, though totally unsighted by one another, Howes took two seconds off Price at the first waypoint, Price taking three seconds back at the second. Then Howes was quicker by seven seconds but, at the finish, Price had added over a minute to his outright lead.

However it was Kevin Benavides who, after being credited for the time spent consoling Walkner, won the stage, improving his overall position to second overall, 12 seconds behind Price and over a minute ahead of Howes.

SUNDAY

The final stage and the ultimate decider. In reverse order to the overall standings, old mate, 41-year-old rookie Saldaña Goñi took off in the lead. The navigation would be easy, just keep the Gulf of Arabia in sight on the right until the finish in Dammam, with only three waypoints along the way. Goñi was already three waypoints along the stage before Price, Kevin Benavides and Howes pulled on their gloves for the intense battle that was to come.

By the time the leaders arrived in Dammam, the surviving competitors had already agreed the Saudis and the ASO had lived up to their promises, veteran Pablo Quintanilla declaring it was the toughest event in his 10-year career. It was certainly the longest since the double traverse of the South American Andes Mountains back in 2014. An event which was won by Marc Coma in just under 55 hours; two hours ahead of Jordi Viladoms.

Despite slow zones, top-speed restriction and other safety regulations, the contemporary Dakar is faster, tighter, more technical and far, far more competitive than the past; as indicated by the stage times. For the future, expect the bonus time discounts to continue, playing a far more important role as the technical boffins perfect the algorithms. Also expect Dakar to expand its footprint. Rumour has it that the Saudis are already talking to some bloke who reckons he can part the Red Sea for the ASO. Watch this space.

Report Peter Whitaker