Glenn Brinkman and Dale Moscatt have battled through the first week of the famous Dakar Rally after completing more than 870 competitive kilometres over seven days of action.

The duo is behind the wheel of the PH Sport-prepared Zephyr and had a mixed run across the seven completed stages thus far, as they comfortably sit 21^st out of 33 current Challenger Division crews.

Starting off with Prologue, the duo qualified 33^rd out of 42 crews before recording their best performance of the whole event on the opening stage with the 14^th fastest time – just one hour off the class leaders.

Stage two then saw the Aussies face their first significant challenge as a drive belt malfunction and two broken drive shafts saw them lose up to an hour. While they eventually completed the stage, they were 34^th in the class and dropped down the standings.

The issues from day two turned out to be worse than first thought as the team was forced to withdraw from the third stage due to further driveshaft issues, which kept them in 34^th.

Not to be deterred by the setback, Brinkman and Moscatt re-joined the field on day four and immediately produced a strong result, going 15^th fastest on what proved a difficult 300km fourth stage for everyone. Despite the impressive return, the Aussies didn’t move up any places and remained in 34^th.

Get all the updates from Brinkman and Moscatt’s journey via the On the Brink Motorsport Facebook Page.

Another top 20 finish on stage five was rewarded with a slight move up the order as they finished one of the event’s shortest stages in 33^rd.

The consecutive top 20 finishes proved good motivation for the event’s most demanding stage – a two-part sand dune-heavy stage completed over 48 hours with no assistance, no accommodation, and no catering.

Proving the ultimate test of endurance, Brinkman and Moscatt had a difficult first half during the stage, with two broken drive belts and a leaky tyre hampering their progress.


Thankfully, Brinkman and Moscatt overcame adversity again as they charged to the end of the station without issues on the second part, eventually completing the gruelling 835 competitive-kilometre stage with their fourth top 20 finish for the event, and jumping into the top 30 with 26^th overall.

Following a well-deserved day off, the duo picked up where they left off from the Empty Quarter Desert, going 16^th fastest on Sunday’s seventh stage to again climb five places on the Challenger standings.

View the full results from the Dakar Rally.

With five stages remaining in the 2024 Dakar Rally and more than 2000 competitive kilometres till to go, Brinkman and Moscatt currently sit 21^st in the Challenger Class.