Jones, Quintero Remain on T3 Podium Through Six Dakar Stages as Howes Adds to Bike Lead

Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team teammates AJ Jones and Seth Quintero took second and third place finishes in the T3 class in today’s Stage 6 of the 2023 Dakar Rally, and they remain in those same positions overall at this point of the event as a result. While each lost a little bit of time to overall Lightweight Prototype leader Guillaume De Mevius, who won the stage, Jones is still within nine minutes of first place, and Quintero is a comfortable third, just under an hour behind Jones but well clear of defending winner Chaleco Lopez in fourth.

While Mitch Guthrie Jr.’s hopes of an overall Dakar win are lost thanks to substantial mechanical issues yesterday, the former overall leader and two-time stage winner rebounded today with a fifth place finish on stage. Guthrie’s first two Dakar attempts ended with withdrawals on Stage 7 in 2020 and Stage 5 in 2021, so a finish tomorrow will cement his most successful Dakar to date.

One racer whose Dakar has been an unqualified success so far, meanwhile, is Husqvarna factory rider Skyler Howes. He may have been nipped by teammate Luciano Benavides for the stage win by 56 seconds today, but his second place finish allowed him to add more than a minute to his overall lead on two-time winner Toby Price, who was third on stage today.

Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah added to his car class lead with a stage win today, while top rivals Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel of Audi suffered crashes in the same spot that have given Al-Attiyah a comfortable advantage. The other stage wins went to Miguel Andujar in quads, Marek Goczal in SSV, and Mitchel Van Den Brink in trucks; Alexandre Giroud, Rodrigo Luppi, and Ales Loprais continue to lead the respective classes, but Loprais’ is the thinnest advantage of all up to this point, as his lead is down to just 23 seconds after today.

The biggest challenge for racers in the coming days will be adapting to all the route changes. Today’s route was shortened to 357 kilometers of special stages, rerouting competitors to Riyadh from Ha’il instead of taking them to Al Duwadimi, where the bivouac couldn’t be completed in time for competitors to head there today. Stages 7 and 8 have also been flipped, allowing competitors to take their rest day in Riyadh as scheduled on Monday.

Coverage of today’s action will debut at 6:30PM ET on Peacock, while TV coverage of the event will debut tomorrow at noon ET on CNBC with encore presentations of Stages 5 and 6.