With a headset attached to his head, Dakar rally director David Castera circles in a helicopter above the Saudi Arabian desert, his gaze scanning the sea of dunes, ready to intervene to secure the race or rescue an injured person. Installed at the front of the cockpit « Delta »code name of the small helicopter … Read more
South African Henk Lategan regained the lead in the general car classification at the Dakar-2025 in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, on the eve of a decisive penultimate stage for the outcome of the famous rally-raid. As an appetizer to their last days in the dune desert of the Empty Quarter, an uninterrupted expanse of sand … Read more
The Brazilian Lucas Moraes in the car and the Australian Daniel Sanders in the motorcycle won the 7th stage of the Dakar-2025 in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, marred by confusion on the car route. Due to an error at km 158 of the car route in the « roadbook »the participants’ route guide, the race … Read more
After the traditional day of rest, the American Ricky Brabec on the motorcycle and the Belgian Guillaume de Mevius on the car opened the ball for the second week of the Dakar-2025 in Saudi Arabia on Saturday by winning the 6th stage. The provisional general classification remains dominated among the motorcycles by the Australian Daniel … Read more
The curse of the Dakar continues for Sébastien Loeb: the French driver was forced to abandon the Dakar-2025 in Saudi Arabia due to the damage suffered by his Dacia in his accident on the 3rd stage. “It’s over for Loeb and Lurquin (…) Victim of an accident at kilometer 12, the roll bar of the … Read more
The prospect of a first Dakar title is fading for Sébastien Loeb, once again: victim of a rollover, the Frenchman painfully finished the 3rd stage of the rally in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, won by Saood Variawa in the car and Lorenzo Santolino on a motorcycle. At km 12 of the 327 of the day’s … Read more
Men and machines suffered to overcome the 2nd stage of the Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the grueling « 48h chrono »won by the Australian Daniel Sanders in the motorcycles and by the young Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska in the car category, whose defending champion, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz, retired. Initially ranked 5th in … Read more
An entrenched camp of 3,500 people, six planes, eleven helicopters, 100 trucks, 70 buses… Behind the picturesque images of the Dakar rally in the wilds of Saudi Arabia hides a gigantic logistical machine, which moves from stage to stage a mini-city in the desert. Installed under high security on 25 hectares in a sandy plain … Read more
Nine-time world rally champion but never crowned in the Dakar, Sébastien Loeb knows he is expected at the turn of the dune. On the eve of the green light for the famous rally-raid in Saudi Arabia, the French driver aspires to a « intelligent course » sans “excess and bullshit”. Flip-flops on his feet, in … Read more
We find a little bit of Lebanon in Dakar. The corniche, which runs along the coast, is reminiscent of that in the north of Beirut, only much larger. The proverbial traffic jams of Middle Eastern cities are also those of West African metropolises. In the Senegalese capital, as in the Lebanese one, poverty rubs shoulders … Read more