The day’s winner Seth Quintero is not throwing in the towel, despite lagging behind in the general rankings. Drawing inspiration from the recent examples of Nasser Al Attiyah and Yazeed Al Rajhi, no later than on the 2024 edition of the Dakar, the kid has begun a hunt for stage points. With two victories and his podium finish on the stage before yesterday (as the 2nd ranked W2RC competitor), the Californian has already acquired 14 points. This is exactly the same amount with which Yazeed Al Rajhi exited the race last year at this stage, before Nasser Al Attiyah left the rally two days later with 18 points. At the season’s end, the Qatari and Saudi drivers respectively finished on top of the pile and as runner-up. So, all the possibilities are open, all the more so if Quintero examines his own experience: in picking up only 5 stage points on the Dakar last year for his first season in the Ultimate class, the official Toyota driver completed his T1+ debut season in 6th place in the world championship. At the age of 22 years, Seth has an old head on young shoulders: “The first week was pretty good for us, with a victory at the start and two second places, but on the other hand, we also lost 40 minutes on the 48 Chrono stage and with the punctures yesterday. All in all, it’s not too bad. Now, for us it will be upwards and onwards”.
