7,967 km of rallying across Saudi Arabia came to a conclusion by the breathtaking Red Sea at Yanbu with Monster Energy Honda Team’s Ricky Brabec taking the top step of the Dakar for a second time, making history as the only American to do so.
After spending much of the first week amongst the front runners, the 2020 winner took the reins after the gruelling 48 Hour Chrono and despite a one second margin to second place Ross Branch at the end of stage seven, the Californian never looked back and rode to a faultless Dakar win with nearly eleven minutes in hand.
In what has been a calm and collected display throughout the rally by the 32 year old, he also added another stage win to the ten he has already collected in his Dakar career to date and leaves round one at the top of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship standings.
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Ricky Brabec: “It’s a nice way to start the year with a victory. It wasn’t easy as the course was really tough and so was the competition. Ross and my own team kept me on my toes, but not just me, 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. This time was a little bit different as I feel like this one was more earned as it 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. I think between first and third there are eleven minutes or something, whatever Adrien got, but it’s been a tight race and ten minutes is not a big gap here on the rally. I had two good days, two opportunities to make a good push, but also stage 11 was a scare factor for me because I knew Ross was starting behind me, 18 minutes behind, and if he caught me it would be over. Stage 11 was hard but I stayed focused, got to the finishing line and didn’t lose too much time, so I’m really happy with this and I’m really happy for the team. I’m happy for all of us, we did an excellent job all of the two weeks. I think number 9 will be my lucky number from now on.” (source: hrc honda)
STORY: “It’s A Dream Come True.” Historic Victory For Ricky Brabec. (January 2020)
photo (c) HRC