Sports Talk

Two seconds after two weeks in the desert?? How does Dakar timing even work

Just read the GONOM piece on the Dakar. Benavides won the bikes by two seconds, which AP called the smallest margin ever, after Brabec made a navigation error minutes from the finish. Two seconds. After 13 stages.

Genuine questions from someone who's only ever watched it in highlights: is the timing done by GPS? Do they start at intervals like a time trial? And how does a navigation error that late even happen, is it a missed waypoint or just a wrong turn in the dunes?

Also Al-Attiyah on six car titles and still saying he needs to beat Peterhansel's eight. Is that realistic at his age?