Nasser Al-Attiyah celebrates his victory in the car category. /
Al-Attiyah, Sunderland, Jones, López, Giroud and Sotnikov are the final winners of an edition with lights and shadows of the toughest raid in the world
The fetish city of the Saudi Arabian regime, Jeddah, hosted the closing ceremony and final podium of the 2022 Dakar rally, which already has final winners: Nasser Al-Attiyah in cars, Sam Sunderland in motorcycles, Francisco López in T3 light vehicles, Austin Jones in T4, Alexandre Girud in quads and Dimitry Sotnikov in trucks.
The last day did not leave many surprises, in any category. The first to arrive were the two-wheelers. Pablo Quintanilla’s final victory was not enough to prevent Sam Sunderland from winning his second Dakar. The Briton controlled the times to perfection and the Chilean Honda’s final arreón fell short in the last 164 kilometers of competition. ‘ThunderSam’ became not only two-time champion of the toughest raid in the world (his first title was in 2017), but also the first for a brand of Spanish origin, GasGas, which little or nothing more than the name of that factory retains Catalan. A subsidiary of KTM, it thus joins other legendary brands such as Honda, KTM itself, Yamaha or BMW. Gray final for Joan Barreda and Lorenzo Santolino, who had already left their options behind long before, and who invites them to think about 2023 to make up for themselves.
In cars everything was clearer. Henk Lategan was the last winner of this Dakar 2022, leaving Stéphane Peterhansel unmatched by Ari Vatanen’s record of 50 stage victories, with Sébastien Loeb close to victory but lacking the advantage – or the luck – enough to beat the unstoppable. Nasser Al-Attiyah. Leader from the first day, in which he was the only one of the greats to have a good time through that suspicious checkpoint in which everyone was lost, the Qatari achieves his fourth Touareg trophy and rubs shoulders with the greatest, breaking through on the way with men like Carlos Sainz.
The Madrilenian, who let himself go at the end of the day, finished his 2022 Dakar with good feelings and optimistic prospects. With much to polish in the Audi project, Sainz showed that he still has sane left and although another year a retirement will be on his mind, only he knows what will happen.
The Spanish victory was circled in the SSV category, the T4 light vehicle category. Gerard Farrés allowed himself to be won, literally a few kilometers from the end, thus fulfilling the agreement he had reached when he signed for Can-Am Factory South Racing. The Catalan rider started first and maintained a sufficient cushion for much of the day so that Austin Jones, his teammate and leader of the ranks, did not take away the first place in the general classification. It was not until the same straight where he already saw the goal in the background when he braked. Literally, he let himself win. As a good backpacker, the Spaniard did not directly confess that he had carried out team orders, but that he simply had to work for the team. Second podium for him in the category, although he has a taste of a moral winner.
Tragedy and wedding bells on the last day
The Dakar, like life, brought on its last day sad news and an exciting one for the future. The first was the death of a young French mechanic, Quentin Lavalée, from the PH Sport team. Chief mechanic of the Peugeot 205 T16 that competed in classics, he lost his life in an accident in a stage link against a local truck. He was only 20 years old, but he had already shown the skills beyond any doubt to take on the challenge of bringing the mechanics of the old French glory.
The final positive image was left by one of the most beloved couples of the Dakar caravan. The Spanish Javi Vega and Sara García starred in a scene that has already been framed in the retinas of the spectators. After reaching the podium after having completed the raid together in the extremely tough category ‘Original by Motul’ (motorcycles without assistance of any kind), and before the surprised gaze of David Castera, the director, Vega removed an engagement ring from his jumpsuit He dropped to the knee and asked the Zamora pilot, who hardly believed it. A proposal to which, of course, he said yes. Accustomed to navigating the dunes in the most complex way together, it remains to be seen if they can navigate the adventure of their lives with equal success.
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