Dakar 2024 live, stage 6 Shubaytah-Shubaytah: schedules and route of the marathon day

Dakar 2024 Live: find out all the details of stage 6 of the Shubaytah rally raid. Seven different camps to house the drivers, 572 timed kilometers for cars and 620 for motorcycles, tents and “military-style” food await the runners between this Thursday and this Friday in the most inhospitable part of the Rub al- Jali, the largest sand desert in the world.

TOUR STAGE 6 DAKAR 2024

The Dakar 2024 has prepared a “trap” for this Thursday and Friday in which the pilots will forget about the stones and the earth to go directly into the dunes.

This sixth stage, divided into two days, should mark the big differences in the first week of the king of rallies, who arrives with three riders less than 11 minutes in the general classification of cars: both the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive) , like the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Audi) seek to snatch the lead from the Saudi Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing).

Starting at 6:45 a.m. this Thursday, a pilot will go out to the dunes every three minutes. The first to do so in cars will be Al-Attiyah, who won the fifth stage this past Wednesday and will be the one who opens the track. After him, the first ten cars will leave three minutes at a time, while from now on it will be two at a time.

During two days, the drivers will travel more than 800 kilometers, 572 of them timed for cars and 620 for motorcycles through the largest sand desert in the world. In addition, two-wheeled vehicles will do so on a different route than four-wheeled vehicles, so the cars will roll without the marks of motorists, something that does occur under normal conditions.

Thus, Al-Attiyah will, a priori, have a disadvantage, since his co-pilot, the Frenchman Mathieu Baumel, will be the one who will have to pay the most attention to any detail provided by the Dakar scorebook.

STAGE 6 – DAKAR 2024 WHAT TIME DOES IT START?

DEPARTURE TIME – MOTORCYCLES

01:50 hours on Friday – Mexico

02:50 hours on Friday – Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, United States (Miami)

03:50 hours on Saturday – Venezuela, Bolivia

04:50 hours on Saturday – Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile

08:50 hours on Sunday – Spain, Germany, Italy, France

DEPARTURE TIME – CARS

04:17 hours on Friday – Mexico

05:17 hours – Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, United States (Miami)

06:17 hours on Saturday – Venezuela, Bolivia

07:17 hours on Saturday – Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile

11:17 a.m. Saturday – Spain, Germany, Italy, France

WHERE TO SEE DAKAR 2024

Images of the Dakar can be seen on ESPN and Star Plus internationally, while Eurosport, Teledeporte and RTVE Play and TV3 will show the rally in Spain and Fox Sports in Mexico.

DAKAR 2024 LIVE

The runners will try to reach the furthest bivouac from the first day, although from 4:00 p.m. they will have to stop at the closest campsite. If they are somewhere between ‘B’ and ‘C’, for example, they will have to go to the furthest one and that time will still count towards the classification.

Upon arrival at the camp, a basic tent, a mat, two meals – a dinner and a breakfast – “military style” and six liters of water will await them, since, although it is winter in Saudi Arabia, the desert is the desert and this past Wednesday temperatures of 27 degrees were reached in Shubaytah, where the last bivouac of the week for mechanics, pilots and journalists was installed.

The objective is to “tell a story within another story,” commented David Castera, the director of the Dakar, in a conversation with the Spanish media. Castera stressed that this stage, divided into two days, has been prepared on the ground for five days and is looking for something totally different from what Dakar fans know.

“There are quite a few new ingredients for this new story,” stressed Carlos Sainz from Madrid on the day before the sixth stage, while Al-Attiyah said not to worry about opening the track and, in fact, stressed that the runners are too worried about these days “but not for next week.”

But in addition to having to sleep in a tent, and not in a caravan as pilots usually do, and not being able to eat anything other than cans, the runners will have to face another great risk: they will sleep from Thursday to Friday without knowing their position. in the first part of the stage, because they will not be able to connect their cell phones to the internet, even though coverage in the middle of the desert is non-existent.

One of the great concerns of the teams, and especially of the big brands, is that of gasoline. A car in the Ultimate category can consume more than 80 and even 85 liters per 100 kilometers, a figure that makes it clear how many liters of fuel the cars must be filled with.

Thus, despite the fact that there will be refueling points distributed along the route, unrest reigned in the briefing prior to the stage, in which the big brands even discussed ways to shorten the stage. Fear of the unknown reigns in all brands and drivers, who do not know what will happen in an indomitable desert that can be full of surprises.

DAKAR TOUR 2024

This Dakar that begins on Friday leaves the sensation of being the one of changes: from the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, current car champion, who leaves Toyota and has signed for Prodrive, to the new names of the categories, which now have proper name and forget T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5.

Thus, T1, the until now highest category of cars – in which, for example, the Spanish Carlos Sainz competes -, will be called Ultimate, T2 will be called Stock, T3 will be Challenger until now, T4 will become SSV and T5 will be Trucks, while Motorcycles and Quads will continue with the same names.

This new adventure through the Saudi Arabian desert, the fifth in a row to be located in the Arabian Peninsula, will feature these five new classes, after the FIA ​​and the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), organizer of the event, have agreed change their name.

But this is not the only change, since 2024 arrives with a dance of drivers who change teams, categories or who simply return to competition after a year off.

This is the case of the Spaniard Nani Roma, who after several years driving for Prodrive had to be absent in 2023 due to bladder cancer that forced him to stop short and worry about his health. However, the Catalan has now completely recovered from the illness and is back in the hands of Ford, who has trusted him with his project.

The Barcelonan seems to have responded and be in tune. After missing the Dakar for the first time in 27 years, he finished third in both the Baja España Aragón rally and the Morocco rally, two of the great preparation tests for the best-known rally race.

The one who was there last year was the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, who won his fifth Dakar, his third with Toyota. However, the current champion changed teams in the summer and moved to Prodrive, along with Frenchman Sebastian Löeb. Al-Attiyah will drive a Hunter T-1 with which he has the challenge of winning his third consecutive Touareg and his fourth Dakar in six years.

Joan Barreda from Castellón has also changed vehicles. A true stage hunter, the Spaniard will change his classic Honda for a Hero motorcycle, the Indian team with which he seeks the title that has always eluded him in the Dakar, despite accumulating more than two dozen stage victories.

The one who will seek his first ‘étage’ in the Dakar is the Valencian Tosha Schareina, who after a creditable thirteenth position last year faces his first year as an HRC factory driver, in the Monster Energy Honda Team. In his first season, he already won the Baja España Aragón rally and finished fifth in the prestigious Morocco Rally, in which he won the second stage.