2022 Dakar Rally winners and final results (cars and motorbikes)
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA – The 2022 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia and the 44th edition of the Dakar Rally organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). The event took place between 1–14 January 2022. This was the third time Saudi Arabia had hosted the event, with support from the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation. The race started in Ha'il and ended in Jeddah, going through canyons and cliffs in the Neom region, passing by the Red Sea coastline, into to stretches of dunes surrounding Riyadh, with a lot more action on sand dunes in the Empty Quarter. The route consisted of one prologue stage and 12 normal stages, with one rest day in Riyadh on 8 January.
When ASO signed the five-year deal with Saudi Arabia, there was a first-year exclusivity clause. Since it has expired, more countries could have been added to the route. However, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions a decision has been made to remain only in Saudi Arabia.
In 2021, the FIA World Motor Sport Council granted full World Championship status to the FIA's cross-country rallying discipline. On 5 December 2021, the FIA and FIM jointly combined both of their cross-country rally championships to form the World Rally-Raid Championship, which is co-sponsored by both organizations. The 2022 Dakar Rally served as the first event in the inaugural championship calendar.
- Race Summary
The 2022 Dakar Rally started on 1 January at Jeddah, with a prologue of 19 km, officially called stage 1A. For the motos only, the stage 1A times were multiplied by 5. Gas Gas entered the Dakar stage winners with a victory by Daniel Sanders, although Gas Gas used KTM 450 Rally bikes. Skyler Howes and José Ignacio Cornejo lost a lot of time on stage 1A and were more than 8 minutes behind the leader. In the cars Guerlain Chicherit in a GCK Thunder buggy running on bio-ethanol fuel had problems with instrumentation and stopped on track.
On 2 January, just before the start of the race, it was announced that to heavy rains that flowed the bivouac, there wouldn't be any marathon stages in stage 2 and 3, but regular stages (with assistance park).[15] On stage 1B navigation was an issue and lots of drivers lost a significant amount of time finding a way point including, Ricky Brabec, Luciano and Kevin Benavides, Andrew Short, Juan Barreda, Toby Price, Maciej Giemza on bikes who lost between 30 and 50 minutes each on this waypoint. Bad day for new Audi RS Q: Stephane Peterhansel had a crash and lost more than 7 hours, Mattias Ekstrom more than 1.5 hours, and Carlos Sainz more than 2 hours finding a waypoint in last 100 km which led him to make some criticism to organization. Giniel de Villiers had an incident with the bike rider César Zumaran and later was awarded a 5 minutes penalty for not stoping to check for the health of the other competitor, breaching the sport regulations. On 4 January it was announced that another incident involving de Villiers was under investigation by running over Mohamedsaid Aoulad Ali's bike when climbing a dune, rendering it unusable, de Villiers circled around to check on the status of the rider, but again did not stop to offer assistance. He was given another time penalty, this time of 5 hours.
Also on stage 2, Loeb secured the victory on cars. In T3 category, the leader Seth Quintero had mechanical issues on that made him to penalize and being away from the fight for the final victory. In follwoing stage, Quintero would take advantage of his start from behind and secure another stage win.
On stage 3 maiden victories for Hero with Joaquim Rodrigues on bikes, and Carlos Sainz with his Audi RS Q e-tron, the first victory on Dakar of an hybrid vehicle. On T4 category WRC driver Andreas Mikkelsen had to retire after a crash.
Stage 4 and another victory for Nasser Al-Attiyah while Benediktas Vanagas in another Hilux T1+ suffered a rollover on stage and had to retire.
Stages 5 and 6 had different routes for FIM (Bikes and Quads), and FIA (Cars, Light weight, SSVs and trucks competitors. Stage 5 for bikes and quads had to be partially neutralized due to the high number os competitors needing assistance, meaning no rescue helicopters were available in the final sector of the stage. The riders who didn't concluded the stage, were given a standard time. In quads only one driver reached the end before neutralization was called. Danilo Petrucci made history being the first MotoGP rider to win a Dakar stage. Skyler Howes had to retire due to a head concussion while Joan Barreda had struggles to finish the stage but manage to start stage 6.
Stage 6 for bikes and quads was also neutralized after the first waypoint at km 101 due to rough track caused by heavy rain and the passage of cars and trucks in the day before. Neutralization came after quad #102 rider Manuel Andújar crashed heavily in truck ruts, damaging the quad beyond repair. Andújar himself was in a state of shock, but otherwise okay.
- Race results
a. Cars (top-10)
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Mathieu Baumel (FRA) - Toyota GR DKR Hilux
2. Sebastian Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurqin (BEL) - BRX Hunter T1+
3. Yazid Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Michael Orr (GBR) - Toyota Hilux Overdrive
4. Orlando Terranova (ARG)/Daniel O. Carreras (SPA) - BRX Hunter T1+
5. Giniel de Viliers (RSA)/Dennis Murphy (RSA) - Toyota GR DKR Hilux
6. Jakub Przygoński (POL)/Timo Gottschalk (GER) - Mini JCW Buggy
7. Mathieu Serradori (FRA)/Loïc Minaudier (FRA) - Century CR6
8. Sebastian Halpern (ARG)/Bernardo Graue (ARG) - Mini JCW Buggy
9. Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) - Audi RS Q e-Tron
10. Vladimir Vasilyev (RAF)/Oleg Uperenko (LAT) - BMW X5
b. Bikes (top 10)
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR) - Gas Gas
2. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) - Honda
3. Matthias Walkner (AUT) - KTM
4. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA) - Yamaha
5. Joan Barreda (SPA) - Honda
6. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (CHI) - Honda
7. Ricky Brabec (USA) - Honda
8. Andrew Short (USA) - Yamaha
9. Mason Klein (USA) - KTM
10. Toby Price (AUS) - KTM
