Ricky Brabec wins his second Dakar Rally title
Ricky Brabec became the first American rider to win multiple bike championships in the Dakar Rally, outdueling Ross Branch over 12 stages in the Saudi Arabian desert.
The Southern California native, who became the first U.S. native to win the Dakar Rally in 2020, completed the race of more than 3,000 miles in 51 hours, 30 minutes and 8 seconds, which was nearly 11 minutes ahead of Branch.
Brabec won the championship with impressive consistency in the 46th edition of the iconic off-road event. He won only one stage (the 10th) but finished outside the top 10 only three times and no worse than seventh after the prologue.
The Monster Energy Honda CRF 450 rider made his big push with a second-place finish in the ninth stage that opened a leader of several minutes over Branch after the rider
“It wasn’t easy,” Brabec said. “The course was really tough. The competition was tough. Ross and my own team kept me on my toes. It was definitely a fight to the end for everyone. I’m really happy we’re all here and all safe and we can go home.”
“It’s a nice way to start the year with a victory," Brabec said. "It wasn’t easy. The course was really tough. The competition was tough. Ross and my own team kept me on my toes. I think we were keeping everyone on each other’s toes.
"It was definitely a fight to the end for everyone. I’m really happy we’re all here and all safe and we can go home. Overall, it was a good rally. This time was a little bit different. I feel like this one was more earned. This time was a lot tougher. In 2020, we had a big gap from the get-go. Here, I think me and Ross spent three days with a couple of seconds difference. It was a tight race for all of us.
Teammate Adrien Van Beveren finished third as Honda riders won eight of the 12 stages.
In the premier cars category, Carlos Sainz, 61, became the oldest Dakar Rally in history with his fourth overall title. After delivering the first win for Audi at Dakar, the Spaniard was congratulated by his son, Carlos Jr., a winning Formula One driver for Ferrari.
Sainz has won the Dakar Rally with four different manufacturers (Volkswagen, Peugeot, Mini and Audi). There could be a fifth if he continues as a contender (with Audi's rally future uncertain because of its impending move into F1).
“It means that when you work hard and you believe in yourself, when you have a good team and good people around you, then the work will always pay off," said Sainz, who ranks third on the Dakar cars win list. "This car is so special, it’s so difficult to manage, it has been so difficult to make it work. To finish and to win this race, well, I’m so happy for Audi.
"I think the energy comes from the passion I have. It’s obviously believing in yourself, believing that you can still drive and a lot of work behind the scenes as well. To be here at my age and to stay at the level, you need to work a lot beforehand. It doesn’t just come like that. It shows that when you work hard, normally it pays off. At the moment, I want to enjoy this victory, and I will think about my future in the next weeks. We will see what happens in the future."
In other notable results for Americans, Dakar Rally rookie Sara Price finished fourth in the SSV category. Price, the longtime girlfriend of Brabec, became the first U.S. woman to win a Dakar stage and only the third woman overall.
In the T3 light prototype cars challenger class, Mitch Guthrie Jr., a native of Glendora, California, finished second overall after leading until the final stage.
