With a fifth stage victory, classification leader Martin Macik firmly secures his bid to defend his title. Kees Koolen narrowly missed out on a stage win by just 7 seconds but managed to claim a strong second place. Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala recorded the third-fastest time, finishing 2 minutes and 7 seconds behind Macik.
It was a day where the trucks had to follow their own route through the seemingly endless sand dunes of the Empty Quarter. While the cars and SSVs had 276 timed kilometers to tackle, the truck drivers competed over a shorter distance of just 126 kilometers. Due to fog, the stage for motorbikes was shortened to 152 race kilometers. The separated routes were introduced for safety reasons and also added a new dimension to navigation. Trucks could not follow the tracks left by earlier-starting cars and motorbikes.


Battle over second and third place
In the battle for the overall standings, Mitchel van den Brink made good progress with a fourth-place finish. He gained an additional 1 minute and 36 seconds on Ales Loprais. The Czech driver from Team De Rooy finished fifth and now trails Van den Brink by 5 minutes and 40 seconds in the general classification. The fight for second and third place is far from over and will remain exciting until the finish line. For Martin Macik, however, it would take something extraordinary for him not to defend his title. With almost a two-and-a-half-hour lead, his second consecutive victory seems all but assured.
Bad luck for Soltys
Due to mechanical problems, Martin Soltys had to throw in the towel on this penultimate day. As a result, he dropped out of the classification, allowing Kees Koolen to move up to fourth place. Vaidotas Zala, with Dutch mechanic Max van Grol on board, climbed to fifth place. Martin van den Brink had a trouble-free day, finishing seventh in the stage and holding sixth place in the general classification. Richard de Groot came in eighth today and remains in the same position overall. William de Groot (no relation to Richard) secured an impressive ninth place in today’s stage and stands tenth in the general rankings. The Van de Laar family, with Anja van Loon and her brothers Jan and Ben van de Laar, successfully navigated today’s challenging dunes, finishing tenth in the stage and eighth overall. Maurik van den Heuvel, despite being out of contention for the classification due to earlier setbacks, demonstrated once again what his team and truck are capable of by achieving a sixth-place finish. However, due to timing issues, we do not have Van den Heuvel’s exact times.


Provisional results for Stage 11:
1. Martin Macik 4h55m14s
2. Kees Koolen +00:00:07
3. Vaidotas Zala +00:02:07
4. Mitchel van den Brink +00:02:54
5. Ales Loprais +00:04:26
6. Maurik van den Heuvel + ????
7. Martin van den Brink +00:17:30
8. Richard de Groot +00:30:17
9. Anja van Loon +00:33:42
10. William de Groot +01:04:19
Overall classification after Stage 11:
1. Martin Macik 57h34m37s
2. Mitchel van den Brink +02:25:01
3. Ales Loprais +02:30:41
4. Kees Koolen +06:08:46
5. Vaidotas Zala +07:19:03
6. Martin van den Brink +07:47:33
7. Richard de Groot +12:01:40
8. Anja van Loon +14:53:49
9. Tomas Vratny +23:21:58
10. William de Groot +29:17:59
Preview
Tomorrow, the Dakar Rally will conclude with a short stage of 62 kilometers. The participants will have to conquer some final dunes before crossing the finish line. We are especially looking forward to the mass start, which is sure to provide some stunning visuals.