This is a game that belongs only to the brave
On 14 January 2022, the 44th Dakar Rally concluded the last stage of competition. That evening, the grand closing ceremony held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, announced the end of this year's competition.
The total mileage of this year's Dakar race is 8375km, and the mileage of special stages is 4258km, with a total of 12 stages, of which 3 stages have a special stage mileage of more than 400km. The tournament departed from Jeddah and returned to Jeddah on stage 12 after passing through Khail and Riyadh.
As the toughest and most adventurous sport in motorsport, Dakar has attracted countless competitors who are not afraid of hardships with its irreplaceable charm, and the number of participants in this competition has reached an all-time high, with a total of 1,065 people, 60 of whom are women.
Event review
After 12 days of fierce competition, the overall championship of this year's Dakar automobile group was won by Atiyah, the No. 201 racer from Toyota Gazoo Team, in a total of 38 hours, 33 minutes and 03 seconds. This is the second time he has returned to the podium after a gap of two years, and it is also the fourth Dakar championship of his career.
Atiyah was a Prince of Qatar, and his family was rich enough to rival the nations
The runner-up in the automotive group was won by BRX team's Loeb in 39 hours 00 minutes and 49 seconds, and Saudi Arabia's local driver Alaki won the third place this year.
In the motorcycle category, the winner of this year's motorcycle group was GAS Racing Team Racer Sunderland with a total time of 38 hours, 47 minutes and 30 seconds; the runner-up was won by Honda's Quintana in a total of 38 hours, 50 minutes and 57 seconds; and KTM Factory Racer Walker won the third place.
In terms of Chinese participation, a total of 9 people and 6 groups participated, and all of them finished.
Among them, there were 3 groups of cars in the car group, the veteran Han Wei / Ma Li car group was affected by the 10 hour penalty time, the final race time was 53 hours 00 minutes and 51 seconds, the total result ranked 37th; and the first time tian Po / Du Xuanyi won the runner-up of the newcomer award of this year with the overall result of the 32nd place in the car group; Zhang Guoyu / Pan Hongyu of the Beijing off-road team successfully completed the race after experiencing mechanical failure, flat tire, overturning and other tests, and finally ranked 51st in the car group.
In the SS12 stage, the Han Wei/Mali car group, which was in the 26th place, chose to abandon the stage competition to escort the already leading teammate Tian Po/Du Xuanyi. Previously, the Tian Po/Du Xuan charity car group has led the Chinese team in terms of overall results with an absolute leading edge, and has firmly topped the list of newcomers in the auto group.
In the end, Tian Po/Du Xuanyi still played steadily in the SS12 stage, starting in 48th place, ranking 46th, ranking 32nd overall, and winning the runner-up of the Newcomer Award (the award T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 mixed ranking took the top four, and the champion was the T3 UTV group).
In addition, Han Wei said that although he was punished, but in general, there was no regret, in addition to the last stage encountered the smoke and dust of the truck, the first 11 stages were running fast, and the partner of the pilot was almost zero mistakes, the race process was very enjoyable, and I was looking forward to fighting Dakar again next year.
The three Chinese drivers in the motorcycle group are all from the Chinese Wubao Haidao Team, of which Zakir ranks 41st in the motorcycle group, and Zhang Min and Zhao Hongyi are 61st and 79th respectively.
Zakir is a 33-year-old racer from hami Wubao Sea Road in Xinjiang, China. This is his third time in the Dakar Rally motorcycle group. In past races, he has created the best single-stage result ever achieved by Chinese motorcyclists, and has also set a new record for Chinese motorcyclists.
The newly added T1+ group and the new energy (T1 U) group can be said to be the two major highlights of Dakar this year.
The top five overall results of this year's car group were all T1+ cars, and last year's MINI Championship car only finished sixth and eighth.
As a "new species" in the Dakar arena, Audi electric drive racing RS Q e-tron not only completed the pre-race goal of 3 cars and one of the top ten, but also won 4 stage championships. As a technology forerunner who dares to be the first in the world, the emergence of Audi electric drive racing is undoubtedly changing the competitive landscape of the Dakar race and will become a milestone event in the history of Dakar.
Condolences: At 11:30 local time on January 14, a traffic accident involving local vehicles and Dakar support vehicles occurred at 234km of the liaison route. The French mechanic from the PH Sport team, the driver of the vehicle, Quentin Lavalee, was tragically killed in the accident at the age of 20.
Quentin Lavalee is the chief mechanic of the Dakar Classic 205 Turbo 16 race car. In memory of the deceased, may he continue to fly in heaven.
Highlights of the 2022 Dakar Rally
The most domineering presence on the field is the Russian Camaz team in the truck group, and the top four in the truck group are all theirs.
The loneliest warrior on the field, a motorcycle driver, a UTV driver
"Image and video data from the official Dakar"