Well, that’s it. Run and done for another year.
Alright, let’s get this out the way first...
Van Loon, a leading privateer entrant in the car class, told De Telegraaf: “Dakar is a hobby for me, I’m setting a lot of things aside to do this. I’m not a top professional, this costs me money. And the way this Dakar Rally unfolded is, for me, not good.
“We’ve had bad weather and cancellations [in Bolivia] for three years in a row. And when we did drive, it was altitude, rain, mud. That’s not what I race the Dakar for.
“It has nothing to do with desert racing. If next year is like this, they won’t see me again here.”
It started with all the ingredients for a classic Dakar, tight competition in all the main categories. In the end only the cars went down to the wire, and that was just between two teammates.
Anyway, that is just part of this event. Sometimes the unpredictableness makes for a better spectacle, sometimes not. Losing some big stages and some big names early on, definitely affected the competitive element of this one. Safe to say some teams and the organisers will have their work cut out for next year.
However, even hamstrung, it is still a challenge like no other. A Dakar win is a Dakar win.
Bikes.
Having failed to complete the event at his previous three attempts. Sam Sunderland rode a perfect race this year to take the win on his works KTM. Becoming the first Briton to take a win in any category.
Sunderland’s Austrian teammate Mattias Walkner finished 30 minutes behind in second, with Spaniard Guell in third. So a KTM lockout of the podium. With quick Frenchman Van Beveren in fourth, and even quicker Joan Barreda in fifth, 43 minutes off the lead. Aboard a works Honda that was handed a 1 hour penalty earlier in the rally, his team mate Paulo Goncalves in sixth also less than an hour behind the lead... Some soul searching for the Honda camp no doubt...
Leading chainsaw was 7th (jokes may improve for next year, no promises though...).
Trucks.
Despite showing some fight, and a fair bit of pace early on. In the end there was nothing Gerard De Rooy and Iveco teammmate Fredrico Villagra could do to resist the KAMAZ charge. It didn’t help that De Rooy had bet his strategy to attack on one of the stages that got cancelled.
Hard to fault the KAMAZ race. Rarely the fastest, mistakes were few and far between, their imperious reliability coupled with their depth of talent in the driving department. Eduard Nikolaev, leading home teammate Dimitri Sotnikov and then De Rooy and Villagra.
In fact when you think about it the KAMAZ approach is the blueprint (don’t worry, I have a day job...) for Dakar success for a team. Have a fast a reliable vehicle and then have more than one driver capable of winning. KAMAZ and KTM have pretty much been dominating this way for years now, and you only have to look to the Peugeot team to see the same approach.
The Renault truck was fast, but again too hot for it’s own good.
Cars.
Well this one did genuinely go down to the wire, and lucky I wasn’t making any predictions this year, because I would have got this wrong (again).
So Mr Dakar again beat all comers. Loeb pushed him all the way this year, and had a clear pace advantage at times. However fastest stages don’t win Dakar, in fact there are probably a number of guys who are faster than Peterhansel in a straightforward rally style stage. However, they all make more mistakes.
I actually thought with some of the longer stages cancelled that Loeb would win. Much improved navigation from longtime co-driver Daniel Elena, and you know, keeping all four wheels on the Peugeot, would see the rally play into his hands. However a late puncture (punctures also wrecked De Rooy’s rally), plus the fact that Peterhansel always seemed to be able to do enough to blunt his challenge. Loeb will win eventually. His and Elena’s progress over last year has been marked. This is Dakar, and experience nearly always wins over speed.
Speaking of improvements, ex bike champ Despres was 3rd. With Roma and De Villiers 4th and 5th for Toyota. Terranova leading MINI in 6th. Shame we never got to see what Nasser could do with the Toyota. Let’s hope that X-Raid and Gazoo can bring it to the Toyota’s next year.
WRC man Martin Prokop ended up 11th in his Ford, I would like to see him in a works team next year.
In the end Sam Sunderland’s quote after winning, summed it up perfectly for me. This is the key, no matter what vehicle you have.
“I think now it’s more the guy who makes least mistakes, rather than just the fastest guy [who wins].”