Meanwhile, in the Saudi Arabian desert

With a final special stage over 175 kilometres, the Dakar rally has reached the finish in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. Closing in on his 62^nd birthday, Carlos Sainz fulfilled another of his ambitions by winning his fourth Dakar for Audi. Behind the prototypes, the participants in the Classic Dakar made for terrific imagery.

Carlos Sainz – the dad, not the son. You have to hand it to the man. His ambition to perform remains strong as ever. As an insight to the man’s unrelenting ambition, this documentary is well worth the watch. Not only is he a two-time WRC world champion, he has now added a fourth Dakar win to his resume as well. Impressive.

Porsche 959

Our attention inevitably went more in the direction of Dakar Classic, the oldies – the cars, less so the drivers – running just behind the big Dakar boys. This year, the French Prestige Autos garage made sure most of the attention went their way. Jérémy Athimon prepared two magnificent replicas of the Porsche 959 René Metge and Jacky Ickx drove through the African desert in 1985 and 1986. The replicas were based on the Porsche 911.

For Athimon, it was the third participation in a Porsche in Dakar Classic. This year, he came 18^th in the 959. The second 959 unfortunately did not make it to the finish.

Duel to the finish

Victory in Dakar Classic went to Carlos Santaolalla Milla and Jan Rosa I Viñas in the Factorytub Toyota Land Cruiser. Last year, the Spaniards had to settle for second, and the duo came close to seeing a repeat in 2024. On the penultimate day, Lorenzo Traglio – son of Tecnosport boss Maurizio Traglio – had snatched the lead in his Nissan Pathfinder, but Santaolalla Milla managed to set things straight on the final stage. Tecnosport’s Paolo Bedeschi and Daniele Bottallo completed the podium in a Toyota BJ71.