Sara Price running strong half-way through the 12-stage 2024 Dakar Rally

Price & Gray ready for the final six and most challenging days of the 2024 Dakar Rally

January 13, 2024 – (Motor Sports NewsWire) – American racer Sara Price has finished the first half of the 2024 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in a fortunate and well-earned position among the dozens of SSV (formerly T4) class competitors. Price and navigator Jeremy Gray had consistently good results during the initial six days of racing and kept the car in excellent shape and ready for the challenges ahead in the second and final six-day stretch of the 2024 Dakar Rally.

The early stages of the 2024 Dakar Rally could be accurately described as intimidating. Race director David Castera had warned competitors. “The challenge will be just as daunting as last January.” Castera promised a course with very tough early stages and endless stretches of high dunes where navigation will be as much a part of success as are the technical challenges of crossing them. The first half of the 2024 Dakar course delivered on Castera’s promise.

Price Scores Big

Despite the incredibly tough rally course, Price set a quick but careful pace and the car had no major mechanical issues during the extremely tough first six stages of the 2024 Dakar Rally. The plan from the beginning had been to make sure, as Price put it, “we remain as competitive as possible, and get to the half-way point for the rest day in Riyadh without beating up the car too much.”

The team’s driving strategy paid off and has landed the #419 South Racing Can-Am Maverick X3 in a good overall position among the highly competitive SSV UTV class. In her first Dakar Rally, Price has already scored a third-in-class SSV (formerly T4) podium for Stage 1 and consistently high finishes among the top 10 spots in the class over the first six stages of the 12-stage 2024 Dakar Rally. Price and navigator Gray have earned an enviable position for any team competing in their very first Dakar Rally.

Stage Notes

Obstacles in the team’s road to success began with the very first stage. Price described the terrain of the premiere stage of the 2024 Dakar Rally “It was full of rocks. Big rocks. Rocks were hiding in the sand. There were pieces of volcanic rock that were like knives.”

The second stage was “Very fast and a clean run,” according to Sara. Things got a little rougher on the third day, which Sara described as “a long day with lots of dust that made it hard to see ahead sometimes. We made a few mistakes but…