The game of cat and mouse continues in the Dakar Rally as 2X winner Ricky Brabec dices with defending champ Daniel Sanders. Week two kicks off with Brabec having to break trail after winning Stage 6.
With just 45 seconds separating him from the top spot overall, Stage 6 winner Brabec faced the unenviable task of opening the stage. It quickly became a tough assignment, as teammate Tosha Schareina and then Sanders caught him, both chipping away at the available bonus time. Brabec secured 5’36” in bonuses, but it wasn’t enough and he finished ninth, 9’15” down on Stage winner Luciano Benavides.
The two-time Dakar champion remained unfazed, knowing that a deeper start position tomorrow could work in his favor as he looks to reduce the overall deficit of 4’25”.
“It wasn’t that tricky of a day but we did lose a little bit of time. No stress on my end… tomorrow we’re in a really good position to claw back some time. For now, we’re doing all we can, we’re riding, having fun, we’re navigating, but hopefully tomorrow we can do a good job and make a good push and then we have the Marathon camp, which takes its toll on tires and things like that.
Tomorrow’s looking good for us, we’re in a good position to have a solid day on what I think is one of the biggest stages of the rally, so for me it’s better to start at the back.”
