Generation Glory
America’s Latest Batch of Dakar All-Stars Aren’t Just Winners…
They’re Record Breakers
Words by Anastasia Leniova
Photos by Rally Zone
01/09/2022 Stage 7 – Storm After The Calm
After the rest day, the seventh stage welcomed participants back into the race with 402 kilometers of narrow stony tracks, big and small dunes, sandy trails, dusty valleys and rain-affected wadis accompanied by 299 kilometers of liaison. Traditionally, after crossing the halfway mark, Dakar demands even more concentration from the teams, collecting its casualties otherwise. You can no longer think “there’s still more than a week of racing ahead; we don’t have to push too hard yet” if you still intend to fight for the podium. Right out the gate, racers will need to go all out if they want to stay in contention.
That was not the case for Seth Quintero who lost his chances of overall victory after a mechanical issue on Stage Two. Instead, he focused on setting an even more ambitious goal (can you imagine?) of breaking the record of most stage wins at Dakar, taking more than 10 stages out of 12! Leading from the front once again, the talented American scored his 6th stage win after being overtaken by a teammate Cristina Gutiérrez, but clawing back over five minutes on her in the last kilometers. A hot contest to watch indeed!
“We got lost quite a few times along with a lot of other people. We started up front with a lot of T1s and had a lot of dust today, unfortunately, but we’re here, we’re at the end of the day – safe, no issues,” the stage winner commented. A Russian crew of Pavel Lebedev and Kirill Lebedev in a Can-Am Maverick, whose mechanical issue on Stage Four made their victory next to impossible, finished third, followed by ‘Chaleco’ Lopez, who cemented his leadership with another day of consistent driving. Now the second seed, Sebastian Eriksson, was even further behind overall, after being hit by a mechanical issue which cost him over a half an hour.
T3 Top Five Stage Results
- #303 Quintero (USA ) / Zenz (DEU), RED BULL OFF-ROAD JUNIOR TEAM USA
- #301 Gutierrez (ESP) / Cazalet (FRA), RED BULL OFF-ROAD TEAM USA
- #312 Lebedev (RUS) / Shubin (RUS), MSK RALLY TEAM
- #305 Lopez Contardo (CHL) / Latrach Vinagre (CHL), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #314 Navarro (ESP) / Sola (ESP), FN SPEED TEAM
In SSV class, Polish Aron Domzala from the Can-Am Factory South Racing was about to celebrate his second stage win in the race, but after just a two-minute fine he had to cede victory to ex-motorcycle racer and Dakar legend Gerard Farres Guell. It’s Guell’s fifteenth Dakar, and now he enjoys Second Place in the general with just a six minute gap. Despite the Ninth Place finish in the special, Austin “AJ” Jones regained Overall leadership. The previous ranking leader, Rodrigo Luppi de Oliveira, was relegated to 5th overall after losing an hour from mechanical troubles. He is now separated from Jones by over 36 minutes and has to pull up his socks if he still intends to claim the leadership. And the American has to keep a close eye on the Poles in order to keep his hot seat.
The Polish brothers Marek and Michal Goczal arrived 3rd and 8th, while Polaris team is consistently located in the middle of standings, P23-36 on stage out of 44 crews still in the race. However, the blow of the day among the numerous crashes and rolls on the 7th stage belongs to a Russian crew of Kariakin/Vlasiuk who were 8th overall after the 6th stage, but had a serious head-on collision with an Italian crew #333 Carrara/Gaspari (PH SPORT). According to Kariakin, they were returning against the traffic to collect a missed waypoint, and Kariakin had no way to drive around, with two cars colliding at this speed of around 120 km/h. Gaspari was sent to hospital while Kariakin’s team started working on the car, trying to return it in the race by at least 9th stage. Spoiler: they didn’t succeed and had to quit the race.
T4 Top Five Stage Results
- #416 Farres Guell (ESP) / Ortega (ESP), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #402 Domzala (POL) / Marton (POL), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #410 Goczal (POL) / Laskawiec (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #414 Baciuska (LTU) / Mena (ESP), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #421 De Sadeleer (CHE) / Metge (FRA), TEAM GALAG
01/10/2022 Stage 8 – The Longest Day of Dakar
830 kilometers led the caravan due south, quite a distance to cover even along the road, but almost half of the distance was one of the most sandy specials in this year’s edition. It took even the fastest crews over four hours to complete, while not so skilled or lucky ones spent over eight hours, not to consider the time to cover the 435 kilometers of liaison in addition. Drive more than 14 hours, arrive in the dark, sleep several hours and repeat – quite a normal schedule for the Dakar! If you expected to see arduous struggle for the stage leadership among Light Prototypes, there’s none.
In this another long stage full of huge complicated dunes, Seth Quintero added a fifth special stage victory to his collection of seven during this Dakar. With no pressure of fighting for the podium and rivals snapping at his heels, the young American is just out there having fun and doing what he does best, leading from the very start of the stage. His teammate Gutierrez, on the contrary, had third place in the general classification to lose – what she did because of a mechanical problem on the 97 kilometer. The Red Bull crew managed to fix the issue, but it cost them three hours and three steps in overall provisional classification, and now they are separated from the leader with almost five hours. “OT3s are impossible to compete with, when they are fault-free,” comments Kirill Shubin, co-driver MSK rally team crew #312.
“We don’t have enough power for maximum speed. When Jean-Mark brings the mechanism to perfection, these cars will be second to none.” His driver Pavel Lebedev arrived third on stage after the runner-up both on stage and overall Sebastian Eriksson (EKS-SOUTH RACING). The experienced Chilean racer Lopes Contardo arrived fourth on stage, choosing substance over style and keeping rivals at bay, still sitting in the P1 overall. ‘Chaleco’ knows however, that the Dakar doesn’t end until it ends, and anything can change at any moment: “I didn’t lose any time today, but the race is still long. Today, I broke a part, so it goes to show that anything can happen every day. It was not easy today: even if I didn’t have any problems, there were a lot of dunes and stones, so I’m happy to have finished.”
T3 Top Five Stage Results
- #303 Quintero (USA ) / Zenz (DEU), RED BULL OFF-ROAD JUNIOR TEAM USA
- #306 Eriksson (SWE) / Rosegaar (NLD), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #312 Lebedev (RUS) / Shubin (RUS), MSK RALLY TEAM
- #305 Lopez Contardo (CHL) / Latrach Vinagre (CHL), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #335 Guayasamin (ECU) / Torlaschi (ARG), SEBASTIAN GUYASAMIN
If in T3 overall, the gap between the crews can be measured in hours, and it’s rather serious mechanical or navigation problems that can change the equation, the competition among standard SSVs is much tougher with less than an hour difference between the top-six in provisional overall. Despite having to start from behind along the trails, destroyed by trucks, and two punctures, Austin Jones landed in P3, maintaining the overall lead. Be careful Austin, Polish brothers Goczal once celebrated family victory with gold and silver on stage. With this, they end up on P3 and P5 in the overall within just 14’49 and 33’17 gap. Another competitor to be wary of is the “Dakar legend” Gerard Farres, who finished fourth on stage and now just 6 minutes separate him from Jones in general classification. Previous overall leader Luppi de Oliveira has obviously not yet recovered from losing an hour yesterday and remains just 6th overall.
T4 Top Five Stage Results
- #410 Goczal (POL) / Laskawiec (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #403 Goczal (POL) / Gospodarczyk (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #401 Jones (USA) / Gugelmin (BRA), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #416 Farres Guell (ESP) / Ortega Gil (ESP), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #414 Baciuska (LTU) / Mena (ESP), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
01/11/2022 Stage 9 – Some Rest Before the Final Push
The shorter of the loop stages with a 287km special touched Saudi’s famous Empty Quarter and the monumental Wajid Plateau offering competitors some rest after the two long sand stages prior. And before some other long sandy challenges to come. With dunes comprising just 14% of the terrain and the rest being mostly stony and sandy tracks between the rocky formations, Stage Nine required a radically different riding approach. This however didn’t prevent American Seth Quintero from collecting another success. He was followed by a teammate Gutierrez, who managed to complete a commendable failure-free effort. This small victory, however, didn’t change much in the General Classification, still dominated by Chaleco Lopez and Sebastian Eriksson from EKS – SOUTH RACING, arriving in P3 and P4 on the stage. With 40 crews remaining now of the 48 total entrants, not much is likely to change in terms of the first two seats unless somebody breaks down, but the Third Place is still up for grabs with Fernando Alvarez, Christina Gutierrez, Pavel Lebedev and Santiago Navarro at arms.
T3 Top Five Stage Results
- #303 Quintero (USA) / Zenz (DEU), RED BULL OFF-ROAD JUNIOR TEAM USA
- #301 Gutierrez (ESP) / Cazalet (FRA), RED BULL OFF-ROAD TEAM USA
- #305 Lopez Contardo (CHL) / Latrach Vinagre (CHL), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #306 Eriksson (SWE) / Rosegaar (NLD), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #312 Lebedev (RUS) / Shubin (RUS), MSK RALLY TEAM
As a result of today, Austin Jones finished second best, sandwiched between the Polish Goczal brothers, but still the overall leader. However, his lead of 13’47’’ over Gerard Farres is not an entirely comfortable cushion. In the SSVs, 44 of 47 vehicles still remain in the race! And there are three stages still ahead to decide which flags will be waved at the podium – the American (Jones), the Polish (either one of Goczals), the Spanish (Farres Guell), the Lithuanian (Baciuska) or the Brazilian (Luppi).
T4 Top Five Stage Results
- #410 Goczal (POL) / Laskawiec (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #401 Jones (USA) / Gugelmin (BRA), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #403 Goczal (POL) / Gospodarczyk (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #415 Luppi de Oliveira (BRA) / Justo (BRA), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #402 Domzala (POL) / Marton (POL), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
01/13/2022 Stage 11 – A Setback for Jones in Dakar’s Toughest Stage
Participants agreed, this incredibly difficult stage was probably the toughest of the entire event. The penultimate day’s track took pilots on a loop from Bisha and back, with 346 out of 501 kilometers raced against the clock, entertaining the competitors with the camel grass, soft powder dunes, navigation, riverbeds and stones. “As SSVs turn upside down, the crews have to literally dig their way up from the soft sand to get out of the car,” commented one of the participants on the obstacles. Still no intrigue among the Light Prototypes, Quintero continued his extravaganza becoming the sole record holder for the most stage wins at a single Dakar Rally.
“Last year we broke a record of being the youngest ever to win a stage, and this year we broke a record of winning the most stages at Dakar. So, hopefully next year we can break the record of being the youngest ever overall winner. We’re just trying to break a few records, I guess,” as he shared ambitious plans for the coming seasons. Meanwhile, Lopez firmly remains on top of things overall, keeping his Swedish teammate Eriksson at bay. He finished 6th today, but no hurry for ‘Chaleco,’ with a one-hour gap he should just take it easy in order to win and complete the final rounds. It was a rollercoaster of highs and lows for Christina Gutierrez, who first led Quintero by several seconds, then lost 21 minutes on just another mechanical issue. Yet, she still managed to move up from P4 to P3 overall, displacing the international Alvarez/Panseri team.
T3 Top Five Stage Results
- #303 Quintero (USA) / Zenz (DEU), RED BULL OFF-ROAD JUNIOR TEAM USA
- #306 Eriksson (SWE) / Rosegaar (NLD), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #305 Lopez Contardo (CHL) / Latrach Vinagre (CHL), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #312 Lebedev (RUS) / Shubin (RUS), MSK RALLY TEAM
- #301 Gutierrez (ESP) / Cazalet (FRA), RED BULL OFF-ROAD TEAM USA
Passions run high in T4! Not the best day for Jones, who was leading by 12 minutes after Stage 10 but had to start several seconds after a truck in the dust only to brake the front differential in the dunes, continuing the day in a two-wheel drive. “It wasn’t too easy, but we made it, obviously, and we only gave up however much time we’ve lost. We’re not in a bad spot for the last day tomorrow, so we’ll see what we can do. Chasing definitely makes it a little bit harder. The Dakar is extremely cruel. We have to just stay positive. It’s definitely stressful,” commented Jones as he had to give up the crown to the runner-up Gerrard Farres after Stage 11.
Farres was modestly keeping in the Top Ten with just one stage win so far, and now took the advantage of Jones’ mishap to grab the lead. Now, just one minute and 41 seconds separate the American and Spaniard, and the fans better stock up on sedatives before the last stage tomorrow. As the battle for the leadership is in full swing, Marek Goczal is definitely not giving up hopes to win. He posted the best time on stage for the fourth time during the race, and now sits 17 minutes behind the leader. A big gap to fill, but at Dakar, anything is possible. Young Lithuanian Baciuska also lays claim if not to the leadership, then to a warm place on the podium (at least), arriving Third today.
T4 Top Five Stage Results
- #410 Goczal (POL) / Laskawiec (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #416 Farres Guell (ESP) / Ortega Gil (ESP), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #414 Baciuska (LTU) / Mena (ESP), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #415 Luppi de Oliveira (BRA) / Justo (BRA), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #444 Morais (PRT) / Megre (PRT), BP ULTIMATE SSV TEAM
01/14/2022 Stage 12 – The End Is Here
An intense two weeks of racing are almost over, but, of course, this is no time to relax… Yet. The terminal race day at the Dakar Rally is traditionally not too distant or demanding, with the most complicated dunes already behind. Just 164 kilometers to retain the leadership for some, and the same kilometers for others to try and take it back. A lot of stars must align in order to win the top step of the podium: flawless navigation, breakneck speed, skill on all varieties of terrain and, of course, avoiding mistakes and technical failures. Some may call it luck, others call it experience, preparation and strategy. But mere luck was not the catalyst for Francisco Lopez Contardo’s fortunes, whom organizers christened as the Chilean captain of the South Racing team.
Chaleco has already been on the podium twice in the Moto category in 2010 and 2013, then held the SSV champion title in 2019 later winning both the Light Vehicle and SSV category in 2021. And now, he tries preserves the Dakar crown in order fight for another World Cup victory. “It was a completely different scenario compared to last year, when I had to go flat out every day without fail. After Stage Two, we held a considerable lead, so we just needed to focus on making it to the finish, day after day,” Lopes explains his strategy. However, even with a victory, it’s not he, who has written himself in the Dakar history book, but the American Seth Quintero, who, finishing first today once again, scored 12 stage victories out of the 13 possible (including the prologue).
It’s something bittersweet to break one of Dakar’s most challenging records, but end up only 16th overall at the finale. Not with Quintero, but with Christina Gutierrez in third place, RED BULL OFF-ROAD JUNIOR TEAM USA made it to the podium – quite an impressive result for the Spaniard, considering all the technical failures that she and her French co-driver Francois Cazalet had to tackle. And a shoutout to other women in the category, who also demonstrated impressive results taking 6th (#311 Liparoti), 8th (#310 Akeel), 15th (#321 Fischer), 17th (#332 Al Obaidan) and 31th (#323 Oparina, who did most of the race with a broken hand). South Racing rookie Eriksson posted the second best result, climbing there after Stage two and remaining in that position until the end of the race.
T3 Top Five Stage Results
- #303 Quintero (USA) / Zenz (DEU), RED BULL OFF-ROAD JUNIOR TEAM USA
- #306 Eriksson (SWE) / Rosegaar (NLD), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #305 Lopez Contardo (CHL) / Latrach Vinagre (CHL), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #301 Gutierrez (ESP) / Cazalet (FRA), RED BULL OFF-ROAD TEAM USA
- #307 Pisson (FRA) / Brucy (FRA), JLT RACING
T3 Top Ten Overall Results
- #305 Lopez Contardo (CHL) / Latrach Vinagre (CHL), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #306 Eriksson (SWE) / Rosegaar (NLD), EKS – SOUTH RACING
- #301 Gutierrez (ESP) / Cazalet (FRA), RED BULL OFF-ROAD TEAM USA
- #314 Navarro (ESP) / Sola (ESP), FN SPEED TEAM
- #312 Lebedev (RUS) / Shubin (RUS), MSK RALLY TEAM
- #311 Liparoti (ITA) / Blanco (ESP), YAMAHA POWERED BY X-RAID TEAM
- #319 Bell (GBR) / Jacomy (ARG), SOUTH RACING MIDDLE EAST
- #310 Akeel (SAU) / Lafuente (URY), SOUTH RACING MIDDLE EAST
- #334 Gounon (FRA) / Michel (FRA), TEAM BBR / POLE POSITION 77
- #316 Costes (FRA) / Tressens (FRA), PH-SPORT DANS LES PAS DE LEA
The hottest and tightest battle among the SSVs went on to the very last minute! The fans finally caught their breath as Farres and Jones, with just two minutes at the beginning of the stage, narrowed it down to a miniscule 28 seconds halfway through this short special. Their duel went on until the very last kilometers when Farres suffered electrical problems, allowing Jones to claw back the lead and, ultimately, the Dakar winner title in SSVs! “To win the Dakar, you need to combine several ingredients,” Jones said in a pre-race interview and his strategy of keeping in the Top Five proved to be right. The 25-year-old made history not only as the third US overall champion at Dakar, but also the youngest to achieve this honor.
Despite several attempts to take the leadership away from Farres, the Jones/Gugelmin South Racing team now enjoys a well-deserved victory in Jones’ third Dakar. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say; I feel crazy. We knew we had a 1’41” gap coming in this morning. The liaison helped to relax. I just knew what we had to do. We had a goal, and we went for it. It means everything, this is what we’ve trained for for three years now. To get it done on the last day… This is a perfect ending to a really great story!” Austin thanked his co-driver and team for the nearly perfect job. Although still a formidable end, Gerard Farres had to be content with Second Place while Third was gained not by either one of the Goczal brothers or even Aron Domzala. Marek and Michal Goczal eventually landed on 4th and 5th positions, surrendering the third podium step to Rocas Baciuska. Despite the Polish Posse winning nine out 13 stages, they didn’t shown the needed level of consistency to demonstrate solid results in such a long and complex competition.
Baciuska, the youngest Lithuanian Dakar participant, started from 7th position and obviously found his footing later in the race, winning Stages 10 and 12, thus deserving his honorable mention for taking Third as a rookie. Of course, it’s not only the Top Three at this event who deserve respect, or glory. It’s each and every one of the crews who managed to complete the twelve stages of the toughest race in the world and arrive at the finish line in Jeddah. Including, of course, the rare teams with a zero attrition race, managing not to lose one single vehicle in this battle, such as the Xtreme-Plus Polaris Factory Team, who successfully finished on places 18 (#437 Cinotto/Bertoldi), 29 (#445 Pla/Pla), 33 (#453 Umeda/Giovannetti), 43 (#423 Cinotto/Dominella).
T4 Top Ten Stage Results
- #414 Baciuska (LTU) / Mena (ESP), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #415 Luppi de Oliveira (BRA) / Justo (BRA), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #401 Jones (USA) / Gugelmin (BRA), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #410 Goczal (POL) / Laskawiec (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #403 Goczal (POL) / Gospodarczyk (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
T4 Top Ten Overall Results
- #401 Jones (USA) / Gugelmin (BRA), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #416 Farres Guell (ESP) / Ortega Gil (ESP), CAN-AM FACTORY SOUTH RACING
- #414 Baciuska (LTU) / Mena (ESP), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #410 Goczal (POL) / Laskawiec (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #403 Goczal (POL) / Gospodarczyk (POL), COBANT-ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM
- #415 Luppi de Oliveira (BRA) / Justo (BRA), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
- #444 Morais (PRT) / Megre (PRT), BP ULTIMATE SSV TEAM
- #420 Abel (FRA) / Manez (FRA), TEAM BBR / POLE POSITION 77
- #447 Lascorz Moreno (ESP) / Puertas Herrera (ESP), BUGGY MASTERS TEAM
- #446 Zille (ARG) / Cesana (ARG), SOUTH RACING CAN-AM
As the dust settles with the last Dakar, the sunset goes down in the Saudi desert as the sounds of engines dim in unison. It’s time to celebrate, make conclusions and suffer from an adrenaline hangover. However, for the World Rally Raid Championship entrants, this was just the beginning of the story to come in five separate acts. They now have only a couple of months before the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March, followed by the Kazakhstan Rally in April, the Andalucía Rally in June and, finally, the Rallye du Maroc in October. After the first WRRC stage, Chaleco Lopez leads the T3 category with 88 points.
Christina Gutierrez is the runner-up with 73 points, and Seth Quintero, despite collecting many points for stage wins, received just eight in the end of the race, proceeding to the second stage of the Championship in third position with 63 points. Jones’ victory put him in the top of T4 category with 83 points, while he is followed by Marek Goczal and Rokas Baciuska at 68 points each. Next up in the W2RC is the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, scheduled for March 5th through 10th, 2022 so stay tuned!