Story: Noel Flatters | Editor - Enduro.Media
January 5th, 2023

The Dakar 2024 pre-race preparations and hype ended today as racing got underway in Alula with a 27km prologue special stage.

The Bottom Line Up Front

• Spanish rider Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda Team) took the win with a very strong 17’35.9 finish time, which equated to an average speed of 92.13kph.

• Daniel Sanders (Australia - Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing) finished second on the stage 12 seconds down, and Ross Branch (Botswana - Hero Motosports Team Rally) rounded out the top 3 19 seconds behind Schareina.

• Skyler Howes (USA - Monster Energy Honda Team) was the big story of the day after crashing and breaking his road book resulted in a P38 overall (P21 in the Rally GP class), finishing a massive 5’10 back of teammate Schareina.

• Defending champion Kevin Benavides (Argentina - Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was P9 on the day, 56 seconds back. Benavides noted that he struggled to find his flow after following over 100 bikes (the Rally GP class started last among the bikes for the prologue).

• American rider Mason Klein (Korr Offroad Racing) finished in P10 on his Kove 450 rally. This is a good result for the young rider, as he only got on his bike at the very last moment due to customs delays in Dubai, and also because he is self-admittedly a much stronger navigator rather than a pure speed rider.

Tosha Schareina had a dream start to Dakar 2024, taking the prologue win in 17’35.9 at an average speed of 92.31kph. Schareina finished 12 seconds ahead of Daniel Sanders and 19 seconds ahead of third-place Daniel Sanders. For Schareina, it’s a perfect start with his new Monster Energy Honda team. “I had a great 2023 and now a great prologue, but we have to keep our feet on the ground. We have a very good bike and a very good team. We have all the ingredients but we have to be humble and just see how the rally goes.”

Second-place finisher Daniel Sanders has to be happy with his result today. After breaking his femur training back home in Australia, the Red Bull GasGas Factory Team rider has not had any race miles to prepare for the 46th edition of the Dakar.

Prologue Storylines

Skyler Howes was the biggest story on the day as a result of a crash that damaged his road book. Howes ended up losing a brutal 5’10 to his teammate Schareina. “It’s not a great start for me, hit a clump of camel grass, had the big crash and then my roadbook stopped working.Super unhappy with the start of this, but again we have 14 more days so anything can happen.” This certainly hasn’t been the start to his tenure at HRC that Howes or the team envisioned, especially after he crashed out of Rally du Maroc on Stage in his first race with Honda.

One of the big story lines that we’ll be tracking at Dakar 2024 will be how the underdog Hero and Kove bikes will stack up against the ‘main’ factory team bikes. The prologue was a good result for the brands with Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero Motosports Team Rally) finishing very strongly to grab the final step on the prologue podium 17 seconds behind Schareina and 7 seconds behind Sanders. Mason Klein finished P10 on his Kove 450 Rally, which is an extra impressive result given that his bike only arrived just before scrutineering closed due to customs delays in Dubai.

Branch: “Everybody is going so fast these days, so for sure you need to go as fast as you can possibly go for these [ed. the prologue]. I was really on the limits, so pretty risky for Day 1!”

Klein: “Because I’ve only ridden the bike once I think top 10 is fair, but obviously I want to do better. I want to have fun, and for me having fun is doing good so let’s do it!”

Coming Up Next: Stage 1- Al ULA > AL Henakiyiah

Stage 1 will be a new edition to the Dakar in Saudi Arabia and will take the riders across a total of 532kms with 405kms of special stages.