Dakar Rally

Season Description
The 2020 Dakar Rally was the 42nd edition of the event and the first edition held in Saudi Arabia. The event started in Jeddah on 5 January and finished in Al-Qiddiya on 17 January after 12 stages of the competition. This was also the first event under the direction of David Castera, who replaced Etienne Lavigne when he stepped down from the role in March 2019 after 15 years in charge. Spaniard Carlos Sainz won his fourth Dakar (counting the 2008 Central Europe Rally, which legally was that year's Dakar) with a third different make, his first with the new Mini JCW X-Raid buggy. In the motorcycle class, American Ricky Brabec became the first person from North America to win any class in the Dakar Rally. It was also the first victory for Honda since 1989 and ended a streak of 18 consecutive wins for KTM. In trucks, Russian Andrey Karginov took his second Dakar win, while Kamaz won their 17th as a manufacturer. Chilean rider Ignacio Casale won his third Dakar rally in the quad category after returning from his brief foray into the UTV class in 2019. American Casey Currie took victory in the UTV class, marking the first American victory there. The rally was marred by the fatal accidents of Portuguese motorcyclist Paulo Gonçalves on stage 7 and Dutch motorcyclist Edwin Straver on stage 11.

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