Dania Akeel was not going to make the same mistake again. This time it would be a different outcome.
Having hit the lowest of the lows on home sand in the Dakar Rally barely a month prior, the Saudi driver finally got rid of the pesky monkey on her back by winning a round of the World Rally-Raid Championship for the first time in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
In doing so, Akeel officially became the first woman to win a W2RC event, although she’s keen to stress that that feat could easily go to Dacia Sandriders’ Cristina Gutiérrez who won the Dakar in 2024 but as an unregistered W2RC competitor.
Akeel’s been targeting a Dakar win herself for some time now and was in the mix to follow in Gutiérrez’s footsteps this year before crashing out of contention on the first stage following the rest day.
“Before the Dakar, I had my goals set on finishing in the top three and by the rest day, I was fourth so right in the mix,” Akeel tells DirtFish.
“I really wanted to win a stage, it was in my mind: ‘This is what I want’ and unfortunately, that meant that I took some risks that I didn’t need to take, and I crashed out and didn’t finish the stage.
Akeel used regrets from Dakar to fuel her in Abu Dhabi
“That hit me hard, actually. I was upset that I put winning a stage ahead of preserving my P4 overall and gradually moving up. Because when you are focused on the short term, you tend to drive a bit more aggressively than those who are concentrating on the overall game.
“If you’re focusing on the overall, you can allow yourself to drop your pace on some stages, and take it really carefully, but I had always wanted to win a stage on the Dakar, and it unfortunately meant I took myself out.”
A month is a long time in the life of a rally driver and even longer when you are left with regrets. It’s why Akeel approached the second W2RC round of the year in Abu Dhabi with a different mentality, although this doesn’t mean that her attacking nature its on its way out in the long term.
“For Abu Dhabi, I was determined to keep my focus on the overall goal, I was not focused on winning a stage, although we did in the first stage,” Akeel continues.
“That was nice, but it wasn’t really on my mind. The overall picture was in my mind, which is why on stage three I dropped my pace because it was the first part of the marathon stage where you don’t have any assistance.
“I dropped two minutes back from the stage winner, but I was leading the rally. I think I finished P5 in the Challenger that day, which I wasn’t too happy with because you need to collect stage points too.
“That was something learned from the Dakar, and using that, I was able to finish second on the fourth stage and hold a good lead heading into the final day.”
Part of what differentiates a good rally-raid driver and a great one is knowing when to push and when to preserve. It’s precisely how Carlos Sainz claimed victory on the 2024 Dakar with Audi without winning a single stage.
Such is the variety of challenges and dangers on a special stage, it’s rare that a crew can push 100% through the stage and reach the finish in one piece.
Akeel understood this firsthand.
“Sometimes you can let the emotions get the better of you and you start to lose your focus,” she says.
“Anything can happen on the last stage, especially in cross-country and it has happened to me before. I had a race in Qatar last year where I was leading the Middle East class and I was second overall when in the last 10km the steering column fell out of place, and we stopped for 40 minutes.
“Those last 10km were flat so, in theory, nothing for us left to do. But there was. There was 10km to do so it’s never over until the road book says you have zero kilometers to drive.”
Now she's got a win under her belt, Akeel's target is to take the championship
Akeel, at the wheel of a BBR Motorsport Taurus T3 Max and navigated by experienced Frenchman Stéphane Duplé, drove a near-perfect event, taking the lead on stage one following a one-minute penalty for Yasir Seaidan and a roll for Dakar winners Nicolas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini.
Taking a lead of over four minutes into the final stage, Akeel kept it clean to come home 3m28s clear of teammate Pau Navarro.
The elusive maiden victory leaves Akeel and Duplé fourth – three points behind third place – in the W2RC Challenger standings heading into the third round in South Africa.
Does this mean a title push?
“That’s the target, for sure,” Akeel says. “When I went to Abu Dhabi, I was about 60 points behind the leader and now we are 30 points behind. So, it’s not impossible to fight for the title, but it won’t be easy.
“It’ll probably go down to the final round in Morocco, but the guy in third is the guy who wins the most stages, so those three points are not going to be easy to gain.
“My target is to pick up as many lessons, as many points as I can, but there are so many variables, so I am not going to be as picky as I was in Dakar. I just need to learn and keep progressing throughout the year.”
The top four crews are not only driving the same machinery, but are part of the same BBR Motorsport team, no less, meaning there will be very little to choose between them.
Quite where the cards will fall after May’s inaugural South Africa Safari Rally will likely set the tone for the rest of what promises to be an intriguing W2RC campaign.
