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YANBU, Saudi Arabia (AP) – Luciano Benavides capitalized on Ricky Brabec’s drifting mistake minutes from the end of the Dakar Rally to thrillingly win the motorcycle title on Saturday by two seconds – the narrowest margin ever.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Attiyah safely secured his sixth car title in the 13th and final stage, a flat 105km sprint along the Red Sea coast to Yanbu.<\/p>\n
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Brabec was injured for his third Dakar victory. While Benavides’ KTM was fastest in the real time, Brabec’s Honda was collecting time bonuses by clearing the way and extending its overnight lead to 3 minutes, 20 seconds.<\/p>\n
Then seven kilometers from the finish line Brabec took a wrong turn. Benavides did not. He saw the light of a car turning slowly and saw who it was. When he realized it was Brabec, Benavides knew the “almost impossible” was possible.<\/p>\n
“I saw the opportunity and took it,” he said. “I felt good all day. I told everyone at the start of the stage ‘This Dakar is mine.’<\/p>\n
Benavides finished second on the stage to teammate Edgar Canet, who won his third stage of the Dakar. When Brabec arrived 3:22 behind Benavides, the Argentine team lifted him on their shoulders and shouted “Lu-chan-oh, Lu-chan-oh.”<\/p>\n
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“It’s not real,” Benavides said. “Two seconds after two weeks and almost 8,000 kilometers is something that is difficult to understand.”<\/p>\n
The previous closest limit was 43 seconds by Luciano’s older brother Kevin. That was another amazing comeback. Kevin started the final stage of 2023 12 seconds behind and won his second motorcycle title.<\/p>\n
Brabec’s Honda teammate, Tosha Schareina, was a distant third after finishing second last year.<\/p>\n
Luciano started his ninth Dakar without ever reaching the podium and just three months after tearing knee ligaments in the Moroccan Rally.<\/p>\n
Even after starting the week with a second consecutive stage win, he rode in the shadow of his teammate and defending champion, Daniel Sanders, who dominated the race until he crashed on Wednesday and broke his collarbone and hip. Sanders continued to ride one-handed and finished in fifth place with important points in defending his world attack title.<\/p>\n
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Brabec won Friday’s stage to take the points lead even though Benavides thought it was “almost mathematically impossible” to win.<\/p>\n
But, he said, “I didn’t stop believing. For me there was no strategy any days, I just gave my best. I never tried to slow down. I feel bad for Ricky. He made a mistake and (this) cost (him) the Dakar.”<\/p>\n
Number 6 of Al-Attiyah<\/p>\n
Al-Attiyah confirmed his sixth car title – two behind the record of his former team-mate St\u00e9phane Peterhansel – and his first with Dacia after driving cautiously, almost nine minutes behind Mattias Eksstr\u00f6m, who won his fourth car-leading stage.<\/p>\n
Nani Roma can pull back only six minutes from the pace of the leader and Al-Attiyah finally beat Roma in 9:42, which is the lowest limit in his six victories.<\/p>\n
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Al-Attiyah won four different producers in 2011 and 2015 in Argentina, in 2019 in Peru and in 2022, 2023 and this year in Saudi.<\/p>\n
Roman, the 2014 motoring champion, secured his first podium finish since 2019. Ekstrom’s Ford held off S\u00e9bastien Loeb’s Dacia by 37 seconds to finish third overall.<\/p>\n
_____<\/p>\n
AP Auto Racing: <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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