Carlos Sainz’s team claim long-awaited victory at Desert X Prix Round 2 in NEOM

ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team on the way to victory in NEOM. (Supplied)
Short Url
Updated 13 March 2023
Follow

Carlos Sainz’s team claim long-awaited victory at Desert X Prix Round 2 in NEOM

  • Top three teams from Round 1 on Saturday claimed podium positions in second race

NEOM: ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team secured a historic first win in Extreme E with a dominant run in the Grand Final, finishing ahead of Round 1 winners Veloce Racing in second and Rosberg X Racing (RXR) in third on the sands of NEOM.

Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekstrom, supported on-site by team owner Carlos Sainz Snr., dominated the race from start to finish, establishing a comfortable lead as Veloce Racing and RXR fought over the runners-up spot.

In fourth place were ABT CUPRA XE, having recovered well from a crash in Round 1’s Redemption Race to make it to the Grand Final second time around.

No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing finished fifth, marking two Grand Finals out of two for the team’s new driver-pairing of RJ Anderson and Extreme E newcomer Amanda Sorensen.

Winners of the Redemption Race were X44 Vida Carbon Racing. Having tied fifth in Qualifying with eventual Round 2 winners, ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team, Fraser McConnell and Cristina Gutierrez lost out on a spot in the Grand Final due to a slower time in the Continental Traction Challenge.

X44 Vida Carbon Racing came back swinging, ending Round 2 with the quickest time in the Traction Challenge on their way to victory in the Redemption Race, securing a valuable 10 points in the championship battle.

The Desert X Prix double-header delivered two maiden victories over the weekend, with wins for Veloce Racing and ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team. What’s more, with the Round 2 podium featuring the same top three teams from Round 1, they will be the ones to watch as the series heads into the next X Prix weekend in Scotland on May 13-14.

Laia Sanz said: “I am very happy, both for myself and the team. We clinched our maiden win in Extreme E. I want to thank Mattias for giving me the car with such a good advantage over the rest of the field. I did a good stint and was able to keep the distance, so I am more than satisfied.

“This victory is for all the people on the team because they truly deserve it for all the work we have done to be in this position, especially for Carlos Sainz,” she added. 

“It was an honor that he called me to ask if I wanted to race with him in Extreme E and I am trying to pay back his trust with all my motivation and my willingness to improve even further. 

“I learned so much with him as my teammate and it is fantastic that he is with us here, helping us and giving advice. Today we can feel proud, but we must keep up the good work.”

Team-mate Ekstrom said: “We had designed a strategy for the Grand Final and I executed it as well as I could. I am really happy that it turned out to be fruitful. It is always easier to race in front and have a clear view in front than being behind another car and having to deal with all the dust. I really enjoyed every corner. Laia drove very well and managed the gap perfectly. It is a good victory for the team.”

The five teams that didn’t qualify for the final fought it out in the Redemption Race in pursuit of sixth to tenth place championship points.

Results:

Grand Final:

ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team 11:10.821

Veloce Racing +5.527

Rosberg X Racing +7.429

ABT CUPRA XE +7.987

No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing +22.321

Redemption Race:

X44 Vida Carbon Racing 11:10.132

NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team +10.150

Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E +33.296

Carl Cox Motorsport +2:43.534 (Penalised)

JBXE DNF

Championship Standings:

Veloce Racing: 46 points

ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team: 46 points

Rosberg X Racing: 31 points

X44 Vida Carbon Racing: 23 points

No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing: 21 points

ABT CUPRA XE: 15 points

NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team: 14 points

Carl Cox Motorsport: 8 points

JBXE: 5 points

Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E: 5 points


Al-Rajhi, Sanders win 48-hour stages at Dakar Rally

Updated 16 min 2 sec ago
Follow

Al-Rajhi, Sanders win 48-hour stages at Dakar Rally

  • For this long stage, which started on Sunday, the competitors had to bivouac in the desert

BISHA, Saudi Arabia: Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi held on to his overnight lead to win the second stage of the Dakar 2025 rally on Monday, the fearsome “48-hour Chrono” while defending champion Carlos Sainz limped in 1h 30min behind.

The 43-year-old racing in his home country completed the 967km special stage, spread over two days, in 10h 56min 54sec, despite a 2min penalty for speeding.

He was followed by South African Henk Lategan at 4min 16sec with Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who overtook Al-Rahji briefly to hold the lead for 142k, finishing third.

“It was really, really hard. I feel like this is our tenth day on the Dakar,” said Al Rajhi on his arrival at the bivouac of the rally, which began on Friday.

“The navigation was very, very difficult in some places, due to the divots and dust. You needed a rocket, not a car to pass through them. It wasn’t easy.”

For this long stage, which started on Sunday, the competitors had to bivouac in the desert and did not benefit from the assistance of their teams at the night stop.

Sainz seriously damaged his Ford Raptor when he rolled it on Sunday but managed to finish the stage although the Spaniard is now 26th in the standings.

Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, who is still looking for his first Dakar victory, was half an hour behind at the camp on Sunday evening, after a fan problem caused his engine to overheat.

But the Frenchman had a better Monday, making up much of the deficit to finish seventh, 13min 10sec behind the leader.

South African Lategan tops the provisional standings, 4min 45sec ahead of Al Rajhi with Al Attiyah in third. Loeb is sixth, 18min 56sec off the lead.

“We looked after the car for the stage because we knew it was really, really long,” said Lategan.

“If you don’t look after the car, it won’t look after you. It’s actually a big surprise to be first because we haven’t been really focusing on it. But I’m happy with that.”

Australian Daniel Sanders continues to dominate on the bikes, his victory in their “48-hour Chrono” making it three in a row after he also won the prologue and first stage.

It is the first time any rider has taken the first three stages since Spaniard Joan Barreda in 2017 between Bolivia and Argentina.

“It wasn’t too bad, pretty hard in the soft dunes, it was very tough for a lot of us,” said Sanders.

“When opening, you didn’t know if it was going to be a soft dune or a hard dune. It was pretty tough. The dust kind of ruined it a lot. Everyone was bunched up fighting in the dust for the opening bonuses. It was a bit tough on that side.”

Sanders took victory on his KTM in a time of 11hr 12min 13sec, 6min 45sec ahead of Frenchman Adrien van Beveren (Honda) with American Skyler Howes (Honda) in third.

Sanders, who is aiming to become the second Australian to win the Dakar on a bike after Toby Price, holds a 12min 36sec lead over Howes in the provisional overall standings.

Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero) lies third, 4sec behind the American.


Dakar Rally defending champion Sainz flips in dunes, is an hour off lead

Updated 05 January 2025
Follow

Dakar Rally defending champion Sainz flips in dunes, is an hour off lead

  • Sainz was within five minutes of the leaders after more than 200 kilometers, but his Ford Raptor turned upside down in the dunes at 327 kilometers

BISHA, Saudi Arabia: Defending champion Carlos Sainz was nearly an hour off the pace in the Dakar Rally after his car flipped in the Saudi Arabia dunes on Sunday.
Local driver Yazeed Al Rajhi led the race at the mandatory evening rest stop north of Bisha on the nearly 1,000-kilometer second stage, which started early Sunday and finishes late Monday.
But his lead was only 79 seconds over five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Sainz was within five minutes of the leaders after more than 200 kilometers, but his Ford Raptor turned upside down in the dunes at 327 kilometers. Teammate Mitch Guthrie helped Sainz right the car after 20 minutes but broken rear parts were left behind and Sainz limped to the rest area at 620 kilometers, more than 59 minutes behind.
Another title contender who suffered was Sebastien Loeb, who won this stage last year. The Frenchman broke down with fan issues at 409 kilometers and arrived more than 32 minutes back.
Al-Attiyah led Al Rajhi by four minutes in the early going but Al Rajhi turned the tables about 350 kilometers in and held on.
Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom was running third, nine minutes back. He was the only driver within 10 minutes of Al Rajhi.
First stage winner Seth Quintero was 48 minutes back.
Australian rider Daniel Sanders continued to set the pace in the motorbike class, even after starting at the back from winning the first stage.
Racing a different course to the cars, Sanders was only 40 seconds ahead of American titleholder Ricky Brabec.
Ross Branch, second last year, lost some time but was still third.
The 48-hour chrono stage was introduced last year, sending racers into the desert overnight with minimal team help. What organizers call “the quintessential rally-raid experience” was the stage in which Al Rajhi’s car somersaulted and he was forced to abandon the 2024 race.
The stage resumes at dawn on Monday.


South African Lategan wins Dakar Rally prologue in Saudi Arabia

People watch driver Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings during the prologue of the Dakar Rally in Bisha, Saudi Arabia on F
Updated 03 January 2025
Follow

South African Lategan wins Dakar Rally prologue in Saudi Arabia

  • Lategan, driving a Toyota Hilux, finished a second clear of Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom over the 29km run in Bisha
  • The sixth edition of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia will stretch nearly 8,000 kilometers across 12 stages

BISHA: South Africa’s Henk Lategan won the Dakar Rally prologue in the cars category Friday, kicking off the sixth edition in Saudi Arabia that will stretch nearly 8,000 kilometers across 12 stages.
Lategan, driving a Toyota Hilux, finished a second clear of Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom over the 29km run in Bisha, with five-time Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar third.
The prologue times do not count toward the overall standings but those in the top 10 get to choose their starting position for the first stage on Saturday, a 499km route featuring 413km of timed sectors.
Sebastien Loeb came seventh but Carlos Sainz, who became the oldest winner of the race last year at the age of 61, was down in 25th place.
Loeb, a nine-time world rally champion, is chasing a first Dakar crown in his ninth attempt.
Australian Daniel Sanders was the quickest of the motorbikes on his KTM, ahead of Botswana’s Ross Branch and Spanish teenager Edgar Canet.
Reigning champion Ricky Brabec of Honda came home fourth fastest.
A 434-strong colorful caravan made up of cars, bikes, quads and trucks set out from Bisha for the opening prologue.
Twelve stages now await the 778 competitors from 72 countries, with a January 17 finish in Shubaytah, on the border of the United Arab Emirates.
This year’s route includes a second 48-hour stage in the Empty Quarter, a vast sea of sand with dunes as far as the eye can see.
The 47th running of the event may be called the Dakar, but the last time the Senegalese capital actually hosted the finish was way back in 2007 — the security situation in Mauritania forced the 2008 cancelation.
It moved then to South America until finding a new home in Saudi Arabia since 2020.


Sainz set to step out of comfort zone to defend Dakar Rally title

Updated 03 January 2025
Follow

Sainz set to step out of comfort zone to defend Dakar Rally title

  • Five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar and France’s nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb will be piloting Dacia Sandriders, while Spain’s one-time Dakar winner Nani Roma will also be in a Ford
  • One notable absentee from the action will be France’s ‘Mr Dakar’, 14-time champion Stephane Peterhansel, who hung up his keys last year
  • A 434-strong colorful caravan made up of cars, bikes, quads and trucks sets out from Bisha with an opening prologue on Friday

BISHA, Saudi Arabia: Veteran Spanish driver Carlos Sainz made history when he won his fourth Dakar Rally last year and is confident that he has what it takes to challenge for victory in this season’s grueling race in Saudi Arabia.

Sainz’s fourth title came when he was 61 — the oldest winner of the race and the first Dakar victory for German outfit Audi.

Now 62, the Spaniard — the father of Ferrari Formula One driver Carlos Sainz Jr — recently became a grandfather, but the two-time world rally champion known as ‘El Matador’ professes to be in fine form.

“Personally I’ve done everything I can to arrive in a good physical condition and I will give everything to try to have a good race,” Sainz said at the launch of his new Ford Raptor car.

“We are comfortable, we have done all the jobs we can.”

Sainz added: “I expect first of all to enjoy, to have really good fun driving.

“I expect to have not so many problems and I expect to fight for the victory. I’m happy to help to try to win this challenge, the Dakar.”

No one has managed to take a machine fresh from the factory to victory since Ari Vatanen, who triumphed with the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 in 1987 and then with the 405 — its technical heir — in 1989, followed by the Citroen ZX in 1991.

But that hasn’t stopped Sainz’s rivals also choosing to blood new cars over the 5,115 kilometers (3,178 miles) of specials mapped out over 12 stages between Bisha and Shubaytah.

Five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar and France’s nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb will be piloting Dacia Sandriders, while Spain’s one-time Dakar winner Nani Roma will also be in a Ford.

One notable absentee from the action, however, will be France’s ‘Mr Dakar’, 14-time champion Stephane Peterhansel, who hung up his keys last year.

In the bike section, two-time winner Ricky Brabec (Honda) will be back to defend his title, with the American’s main rival likely to be Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero), second last year.

A 434-strong colorful caravan made up of cars, bikes, quads and trucks sets out from Bisha with an opening prologue on Friday.

Twelve stages then await the 778 competitors from 72 countries, with a Jan. 17 finish in Shubaytah, on the border of the UAE.

This year’s route includes a second 48-hour stage in the Empty Quarter, a vast sea of sand with dunes as far as the eye can see.

Introduced last year, organizers said the concept of the stage, during which competitors have to bivouac on the sand and are not allowed outside help, was simple: “Juggling the twin challenges of endurance and performance while blasting through a thousand kilometers of desert in two days.”

“It’s the rally of maturity,” race director David Castera told AFP. “There’s a real level of difficulty, it’s a real, tough Dakar, which will push everyone beyond their limits, beyond their comfort zone.”

The 47th running of the event may be called the Dakar, but the last time the Senegalese capital actually hosted the finish was way back in 2007 — the security situation in Mauritania forced the 2008 cancelation.

It moved then to South America until finding a new home in Saudi Arabia since 2020.


Winners of 2024 Saudi Toyota Championship honored at season awards

Updated 30 December 2024
Follow

Winners of 2024 Saudi Toyota Championship honored at season awards

  • Kingdom’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi wins for dominance in car category
  • Championships a ‘landmark’ on sports map, says Prince Khalid

JEDDAH: The Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation hosted its annual awards here on Sunday to honor the winners of the 2024 Saudi Toyota Championship.

The ceremony was attended by Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Faisal, the SAMF’s chairman and CEO of the Saudi Motorsport Co.; Khalid Al-Suwaidan, the SAMF’s CEO; officials from the Ministry of Sports; and local and regional media representatives.

In his keynote address, Prince Khalid said: “The Saudi Toyota Championship has become a landmark on the Saudi sports map, reflecting a new history and a promising future.”

“With your efforts and support, the championship has grown to become the largest motorsports competition in the Kingdom. Today, we celebrate the success of this year’s edition and honor the champions who excelled throughout the season,” he added.

Prince Khalid also thanked King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the Minister of Sport for their support.

Al-Suwaidan added that the SAMF was committed to fostering growth and innovation in Saudi Arabia’s motorsports industry.

The awards recognized excellence across various categories, which included Yazeed Al-Rajhi who continued his dominance in the car category of the Rally Championship.

In the Drag Racing Championship, UAE racer Saeed Al-Balooshi was recognized for his win. Others honored were Jordan’s Mustafa Al-Attari for his performance in the Autocross Championship, and Fadi Hamada in the Time Attack Championship and Hill Climb Championship.

In addition, Mohammed Al-Orabi and Malik Mustafa were recognized for their wins in the Drift Championship and Karting Championship respectively.

The event also honored Saudi Arabia’s motorsports icons including Yasser bin Saidan, FIA World Rally Raid champion in the side-by-side vehicle category; Hani Al-Noumasi, FIM Baja World Cup champion in the quad category; Dania Aqeel, FIA Middle East Baja Cup champion; and Fahad Al-Sufyani, FIA Middle East Baja Cup co-drivers’ champion.