2018 Dakar Rally The Story So Far

As we get to the latter stages of the 14-day-long Dakar Rally, the competition is hotting up between Carlos Sainz Sr. and 13-time Dakar Rally winner Stephane Peterhansel. The pair from Peugeot have a gap of 50 minutes between them, with Peterhansel raring to close the gap in the final four days of the rally.

The 2018 edition of the Dakar Rally has been like a war of attrition, the battle to be the winner literally seeming to be reserved for those who are more cautious than fast. The dunes of the Sechura Desert in Peru posed the biggest challenge to all competitors this year - its blind crests, sharp elevation changes and some surprisingly soft sand took many rally drivers by surprise and made Carlos Sainz comment that the route may be ‘too much’ for almost every participant. Many dramatic accidents were the result of the same - thankfully none of them has been fatal.

The biggest retirement from the rally, for cars at least, has been that of multiple WRC champion Sebastien Loeb. Trying to keep his momentum going in the soft sand dunes on Stage 5, Sebastian drove over a crest of a particularly steep one which had a deep hole on the other side. While rescue efforts, with the help of a passing truck, cost Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena almost three hours, it was the spinal injury which Elena sustained during the fall that forced Loeb to retire. 

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The rally has been rough on many factory teams; damages forced two of the three new X-raid MINI rear-wheel buggies cars out of the rally on the second day itself while the third car had a parts breakdown on the third day. The MINI buggies had been made to mimic the winning formula which helped Peugeot win the previous two editions of the Dakar, and which may help them win this year too.

The fight, at least amongst the factory teams, is now between the Toyotas of Nasser Al-Attiyah, Giniel de Villiers and Bernhard ten Brinke and the Peugeots of Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz. For now, the scrap for top trumps seems to be between Sainz and Peterhansel, the latter losing the overall lead on the 7th stage because of a suspension failure after an accident in which he reckons he was ‘probably going too fast’.

The cancellation of one whole day of racing due to deteriorating weather gave the competitors some respite. But when racing resumed Carlos Sainz found himself in the middle of a rather dark controversy: Kees Koolen, riding a quad, has alleged that the Peugeot of Sanz collided with him on the 7th stage, resulting in heavy damage to the quad, but the Spanish driver did not stop to check or help - as is the rule. Sainz has been given an interim time penalty of 10 minutes, though he still leads the overall standings by over 50 minutes from Peterhansel. 

A dash to the finish in the final four days could change the overall standings, and if the previous ten days of racing have proved anything - it is that anything is possible.