2024 Dakar Rally stage 10 results where Honda continue their domination with Ricky Brabec putting the hammer down as race rival Ross Branch eases off, leading the HRC team to another 1-2-3.

2024 Dakar Rally Stage 10 in a nutshell – AlUla > AlUla,
Special: 371km Liaison: 241km

• As the 2024 Dakar Rally nears its end, stage 10 today presented riders with 612km of riding in total, 371km of which was raced against the clock. Only two stages remain, totalling 915km, before the 46^th edition ends on Friday in Yanbu.
• Tricky navigation was not the only obstacle today, with the rocky terrain of the canyon surrounding the famous Elephant Rock proving difficult for many. Riders were advised to go with caution as one mishap in the rocks could mean the end of their Dakar campaign.
• Adrien Van Beveren had the unenviable task of opening the road, the only positive being the precious 4m37s of bonus time he gained from being the first rider out. The Honda team went out all guns blazing today though, with teammates Ricky Brabec and Jose Cornejo chasing down AVB from the off.
• At the first checkpoint, km39, it was Martin Michek who posted the fastest time after starting 18th, with Hero’s Ross Branch just 14 seconds behind and Luciano Benavides a further 16 seconds down. Even that early on in the special, a small mistake in navigation or a bad choice of line through the rocky terrain could lead to lost time, so diligence was key.
• Around 150km into the special, Honda’s Ricky Brabec caught up with AVB to open the stage and rack up 2m25s in bonus time, which would prove vital by the end of the stage. The teammates cleverly shared road opening duty which proved a smart move.
• Thanks to the bonus time system, both Brabec and AVB hugely benefitted from opening the special today. Winning stage 10 by just 2 seconds over Nacho Cornejo, Brabec was able to extend his lead in the overall ranking to 10m54 seconds over Botswanan Ross Branch – seems kinda crazy to think that they were only one second apart just a few days ago.

• “The day was good although the navigation wasn’t easy.” Explained Ricky at the finish. “In the first 50 km I was riding into the sun so that was difficult and then once I’d caught Adrien we rode together the whole way. We made some little mistakes here and there, but we came out in a good position for tomorrow and the last day. With two days left we have a little bit of a lead so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

• Nacho Cornejo came home second-fastest on today’s stage to make it a Honda 1-2-3, his result allowing him to close in on AVB in the overall, with only 2m2s now separating the pair as they duke it out for P3 on the podium.
• Daniel Sanders posted his best stage result of hte rally today with P4, the GASGAS rider claiming a pep-talk with himself at refuelling turned around his day.
• A podium finish is slipping further and further out of reach for the likes of Kevin Benavides and Toby Price, lying in fifth and sixth place overall respectively, something that the former Dakar champions will not be best pleased about. Reigning World Rally-Raid Champion Luciano Benavides, despite moving up the leaderboard thanks to a series of runner-up stage results earlier this week, is still feeling the impact of last week’s 15-minute engine penalty on his overall time, leaving him seventh in the standings.
• Three-time Indian motocross and supercross champion Harith Noah shook things up today, clocking the second fastest time at km 264, just 42 seconds down on Brabec. The Sherco TVS team rider is competing his fifth Dakar and went onto have his best-ever result, finishing fifth overall. That put him in amongst the Rally GP boys and with it the Rally 2 class win, only 1m55s behind Brabec.
• That ride brings him up to second overall in the Rally 2 standings. Mathieu Doveze finished second in class, 4m17s behind Noah, with fellow Frenchman Lepan a further 2m10s down. Roman Dumontier still leads the class, but the 10-minute gap he had yesterday has narrowed to 4m31s after Noah’s excellent ride today.
• Jane Daniels remains in 49th overall for Fantic Racing after picking up her Spiriti of dakar medal for towing her teammate Jeremy Miroir out of stage 8. It is still baffling us how they managed to tow 60-odd kilometres of the timed special (another near 100km on the road after) in the desert and over rocks.

2024 Dakar Rally Stage 10 Results (Provisional):

2024 Dakar Rally overall classification after stage 10:

Photo Credit: Honda Racing + Rally Zone + Sherco Racing