2020 DAKAR RALLY

Photos, HRC, KTM, Husqvarna

KTM’s incredible winning streak at the Dakar Rally is over. The first Dakar of the new decade saw a new winner, with Monster Energy Honda Team’s Ricky Brabec not only ending the KTM hegemony, but also scoring the first Dakar win by an American.

A starter with the factory Honda team in the past four Dakars, Brabec’s previous best was ninth on debut in 2016. Last year, the American was in contention for the win before retiring with a blown engine on Stage 8.

With the 2020 Dakar shifting from South America to Saudi Arabia, the course would be a new challenge for all riders, but 28-year-old Brabec quickly adapted, taking the lead on Stage 3 and never really looking like he would lose it for the remainder of the rally.

Last year’s winner, Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Team) won the opening stage and was in contention for victory at several points, but a combination of navigational errors and equipment failure meant he entered the final stages too far back to threaten Brabec’s lead.

VALE Paulo

While this year’s Dakar celebrated a new champion, the event was darkened by the death of veteran rider and 2015 runner-up, Paulo Goncalves. Part of Honda’s Dakar squad in past years, Goncalves had joined Hero Motorsports Team Rally this year and was in 46th overall when he crashed on Stage 7. The death of such an experienced and popular competitor shocked the field and led to the cancellation of Stage 8 for the motorcycle category.

The first competitor fatality since 2015, Goncalves would be one of two to pass in 2020. The second was Dutch privateer Edwin Straver who crashed on the penultimate stage and succumbed to his injuries on 25 January.

Champions and Challengers

Coming into the 2020 Dakar, the factory teams from KTM, Honda and Yamaha featured familiar lineups, with Price leading an unchanged Red Bull KTM Factory Team that included 2017 winner Sam Sunderland, 2018 winner Matthias Walkner and Luciano Benavides.

Monster Energy Honda Team’s 2020 campaign saw Joan Barreda, Kevin Benavides, Brabec and Jose Ignacio Cornejo all returning, with Goncalves replaced by South African rookie, Aaron Mare.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team retained its lead riders in Adrien van Beveren and Xavier de Soultrait, with Franco Caimi also returning, but Aussie Rod Faggotter was replaced by British rookie, Jamie McCanney.

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing ran an unchanged two-man squad of Pablo Quintanilla and Andrew Short.

Laia Sanz, the most successful female rider at the Dakar, was back, but this time with Gas Gas after spending most of her riding career with KTM.

While Faggotter was out of the Yamaha factory team, he was still a starter, on a YMA-supported WR450F. Other Aussies included Ben Young, back with the Duust Rally Team after making his debut last year, while Matthew Tisdall (KTM) and Trevor Wilson (Husqvarna) were Dakar debutants for 2020, as was New Zealander Phillip Wilson (KTM).

Rally Summary - Stg 01 - 03

The first race day of twelve in the 2020 Dakar and the first 319km of 5,000km of timed specials and over 7,500 total kms for the 144 starters in the motorcycle class started calmly enough, with Price taking the opening stage win, despite a damaged roadbook, ahead of Brabec, and Walkner on a mix of rocky open trails and sand. Price copped a penalty for the roadbook incident, leaving him only seconds ahead of Brabec going into the second day.

On Stage 2, Price’s title defence went off track – literally – when he got lost on the 367km timed stage. This was due, in part, to new rules introduced for 2020 where riders receive their roadbooks only 25 minutes before the stage start – ostensibly in an effort to prevent bigger teams using satellite imagery to plot shortcuts and smoother paths on the day’s route. Four of the twelve stages for 2020 would be subject to this rule and Stage 2 was the first of them.

Price lost 12 minutes, but he wasn’t alone, with Brabec, van Beveren and others having navigation issues, too. This allowed relative unknown Ross Branch (BAS Dakar KTM) to take the stage win, ahead of Sunderland and Quintanilla. Sunderland inherited the race lead in the first part of this ‘super marathon’ stage where riders aren’t allowed overnight mechanical assistance from their teams.

Stage 3 and part 2 of the super marathon saw Branch’s good fortune end with a crash, but he was still able the finish the 427km stage. The fast, sandy trails caught out van Beveren, too, and he was out with a fractured collarbone. A fall from de Soultrait soon after forced him to withdraw the next day, effectively ending Yamaha’s 2020 campaign.

Errors in the road book saw the third stage declared early, but Hondas still finished 1-2-3. Brabec won the day and inherited the overall lead, with four Hondas in the top five, while Price and moved up to sixth overall.

Rally Summary – Stg 04 – 06

Stage 4’s 453km special combined rocky tracks with tricky navigation, and while Barreda was caught out, crashing early, the other Honda riders rose to the challenge. Their efforts were helped by a time penalty for Sunderland for speeding through a control section, so even though the Brit won the day, he was demoted to eighth. That elevated Cornejo to his first ever stage win ahead of Kevin Benavides and Branch. The overall lead remained with Brabec, while Price moved up to fourth, 12 minutes in arrears.

More sandy plains, camel grass and rocks defined the 353km Stage 5, which would be another where riders received their roadbooks just before the stage start.

Stage 5’s fast pace and mix of terrain caught out Sunderland, who crashed hard and was out with fractures of the vertebrae and shoulder blade. Price won the stage and cut three minutes out of Brabec’s lead, but the American was still holding an overall advantage of just over nine minutes ahead of Stage 6. The other improver on this stage was Quintanilla; second on the day and up to fourth overall behind Kevin Benavides.

The last stage ahead of the rest day in Riyadh would also be long at 477km. Adding to the challenge was that the stage was made up of energy-sapping and navigationally-challenging sand dunes.

Honda’s campaign suffered their first setback on this stage when Kevin Benavides’s CRF450 Rally expired. Sitting third overall at that point, the hours lost effectively ended the Argentine’s chance of victory.

Price suffered a setback of his own with failure of his rear tyre’s mousse after a puncture. Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Short donated his tyre, but even with the replacement, Price lost 16 minutes, falling behind Quintanilla to third overall, while stage-winner Brabec’s outright lead was now almost 21 minutes.

Coming into the rest day, Faggotter was in 13th overall, Young 66th, Wilson 88th, Tisdall 108th and kiwi Phil Wilson 63rd.

Rally Summary – Stg 07 – 09

The second week of Dakar started with the longest stage of the entire rally at 546km, and even though the day began positively for most teams, it ended tragically with the death of Goncalves. In his 13th Dakar, Goncalves crashed midway through the stage, with the following Price the first to reach him. Despite swift medical assistance and helicopter evacuation, Goncalves was declared dead later that day.

Kevin Benavides, who had also stopped to assist Goncalves, would be declared the stage winner after he was given time back.

In memory of Goncalves, Stage 8 was cancelled for the motorcycle and quad categories, with the Hero Motorsports Rally Team withdrawing their other three riders on the same day.

The pall cast over the Dakar was lifted slightly when racing resumed on Stage 9, but the impact on riders of losing one of their own couldn’t be discounted. Nevertheless, Price went out hard and strong to finish the day second behind Quintanilla.

Stage 9 took riders through rocky trails, sandy sections and deep ravines to the edge of the ‘Empty Quarter’, a 650,000km2 expanse of dunes described as the largest area of sand in the world. Stage 10 would see the field enter it.

Rally Summary – Stg10 - 12

On Stage 10 – another marathon stage – Brabec extended his overall lead through the endless dunes of the Empty Quarter thanks to navigation issues by Quintanilla. Further aiding his cause was a cancellation of the second section of the monster 534km special due to extreme winds that had led to several crashes, but more importantly, grounded the helicopters, thus impacting the ability of medical teams to reach injured riders.

Price finished the stage in fourth and dropped back to fourth overall behind stage-winner Barreda, but the margin was less than a minute and a half. Brabec, meanwhile, had a 25-minute lead over Quintanilla going into the penultimate stage.

Stage 11 – part 2 of the marathon - saw even more dunes, which were gobbled up by Quintanilla on his way to the stage win, with Walkner a few seconds behind, while the younger of the Benavides brothers, Luciano, finished the day in third. Price was fifth on the stage and more than 22 minutes off the overall lead.

Finishing the stage in tenth, Brabec appeared to be pacing himself, but unbeknownst to his rivals, a minor crash, subsequent injury and almost running out of fuel in the dunes had slowed the rally leader’s progress, shaving ten minutes off his overall lead. Should such issues strike again, there was a chance that Quintanilla or Price could take a last gasp win.

The last leg of the 2020 Dakar was a short special, with riders having to cover only 167km through flat, easy terrain en route to the finish and podium ceremony at Qiddiya.

Cornejo charged to take the Dakar stage victory, but with Brabec in second, the win for him and Honda - and the end of KTM’s 18-year winning streak - was assured.

In the end, Brabec’s winning margin was more than 16 minutes over Quintanilla. Third from Price continued his personal streak of finishing on the podium each time he’s completed a Dakar.

The other Aussies finished, too, with Faggotter recording a personal best of 13th. Ben Young finished 58th, Trevor Wilson 76th and Matt Tisdall 96th, but Phil Wilson was the best of the Antipodeans in 53rd overall.

Jaume Betriu (FN Speed Team KTM) was the best rookie, finishing 14th, just ahead of Yamaha’s McCanney, while Laia Sanz maintained her perfect finishing record in her tenth Dakar start - first female and 18th overall.

A New Champion

“It’s a dream come true,” Brabec said after his breakthrough win. “Hopefully we can come back next year and repeat it. I know that it’s not going to be easy as the Husky and KTM boys will be breathing down our necks.

“I’m really excited to be here for Honda and for America as well. To be the only American to accomplish this goal is amazing. I think it’s really a dream come true. Now we’ve got to set our goals higher and accomplish more. We are going to come back next year and try and repeat this but, as I said, it’s not easy.

“I can’t thank everyone enough – Honda, Monster and every one of the sponsors behind us.”