Dakar 2024 – Stage 12: Carlos Sainz wins his 4th Dakar!

It’s done! Carlos Sainz and his co-driver Lucas Cruz win the Dakar 2024. After 7891 kilometers, including 4727 special stages across Saudi Arabia, the two Spaniards made almost no mistakes to secure their fourth victory together. El Matador now joins another rally legend, Finnish driver Ari Vatanen, on the list of car champions. He is now only one victory away from Nasser Al-Attiyah (5 victories) and three away from Stéphane Peterhansel (8 victories).

Also note that since the 2015 edition of the Dakar, which is ten editions, only three drivers have won the race; Nasser Al-Attiyah 4 times (2015, 2019, 2022, and 2023), Stéphane Peterhansel 3 times (2016, 2017, and 2021), and Carlos Sainz 3 times (2018, 2020, 2024). Apart from the 2014 edition won by Nani Roma, these three legends have won everything since 2010.

The double World Rally champion also becomes the first driver to win the Dakar with four different manufacturers. After Volkswagen in 2010, Peugeot in 2018, and Mini in 2020, Sainz gives Audi the perfect farewell. After a three-year program, the brand with the Four Rings has successfully introduced a hybrid vehicle for the first time in the Dakar. Now it’s time for F1 for the Ingolstadt manufacturer, as part of the personnel who worked on the RS Q e-tron have already transitioned to the program that will bring Audi to the starting grid in 2026.

Despite a blank record in stage wins for him, Sainz was the most consistent in this edition and the one who managed to avoid the main pitfalls that his main competitors fell into. Whether it was his teammates Stéphane Peterhansel and Mattias Ekström, the two-time defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, or his closest rival Sébastien Loeb, all encountered more or less significant difficulties that kept them away from the final victory.

The final stage for Sébastien Loeb.

Loeb, however, managed to limit the damage by securing his fifth podium finish in eight participations. Once again unlucky, notably during the 10th stage, the duo Sébastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin is already looking towards the 2025 edition where they will have a new vehicle with the support of Dacia, and still prepared by Prodrive. To end on a positive note, the Alsacian driver and his Belgian co-pilot achieved the best time in the 12th and final stage around Yanbu (328 kilometers, including 175 kilometers of special stage).

Between these two giants of motorsport, Guillaume de Mevius managed to slip into second place overall. Grégoire’s son, accompanied by Xavier Panseri, delivered an exceptional performance behind the wheel of his Toyota Hilux from the Overdrive Racing team. Winner of the first stage, the Franco-Belgian duo showed throughout the race that they could compete with the top players in the world rally-raid.

See you now in January 2025 for a new edition that will bring us many more surprises. Despite Audi’s departure, there will be many contenders for victory, including Dacia, which will field Sébastien Loeb and Nasser Al-Attiyah, Ford, whose official rally-raid program is expanding, and of course Toyota, which will want to reclaim its title.

Stage 12 ranking.

General ranking