The French Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) continues adding stage victories in the Dakar 2023 and there are already six, with this Friday, five of them in a rowa sensational streak, with which he has staged a great comeback in the standings.
The nine-time world rally champion is already second overall after having passed the Brazilian Lucas Moraes (Toyota), but it does not worry the leader, the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota).
Loeb appeared in this edition, the seventh that he has disputed, with 16 stage wins, a record to which he has already added another half dozen partial wins. He has beaten his best record in a Dakar, the 5 wins he achieved in 2017 and that then, as he can happen now, only served him to be runner-up.
On the twelfth stage, ending in Shaybah (Saudi Arabia)the pilots completed the two-day marathon, without intermediate assistance, at Rub al-Khali, on ‘Empty Quarter‘ (empty dial), the inhospitable desert of Arabia.
In the second installment, they had 191 liaison kilometers and 185 timedmost of them by dry lakes, but also dunes and sand.
Loeb has gotten used to win stages and open track. After four consecutive victories, the Frenchman sought his fifth and with that objective he led the first set with authority.
In the 42 initial kilometers, the Alsatian put 55 seconds on Al-Attiyah, one minute exactly on the Swede Mattias Ekstrom, the only survivor of Audi in the Dakar 2023, and close to two on the French Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive).
The race pace of the world rally champion is well above the rest in this second week of the Dakar after having squandered his chances of winning the Touareg in the first days of the raid.
Passing by kilometer 87, He was 1:46 ahead of Al-Attiyah and 1:55 behind Ekstrom. The Brazilian Lucas Moraes was already losing 5:26 at that point in the timed session and his second place overall was beginning to falter.
With Loeb intractable, Ekstrom moved ahead of Al-Attiyah in the timesheets after 128 kilometers, albeit for only nine seconds. Prodrive dominated the special with 2:25 over the Nordic and had Moraes at 6:49 in the stage. At that time, overall, the difference was already less than three minutes in favor of the South American.
The Frenchman did not take his foot off the accelerator and Al-Attiyah controlled. At the last intermediate check, Ekstrom He passed at 2:42 and the leader of the general, at 3:03. Moraes yielded 7:47. The advantage of the Brazilian, about to run out.
Loeb completed another stage again, opening the track from start to finish. He closed it at 1h56:21, with 3:19 (another half minute in the last stage) over Ekstrom, 3:31 over Al-Attiyah and 11:38 over the Brazilian, who lost second place overall.
With two stages to go, the Qatari has his fifth Dakar in his pocket, with 1h27:10 over Loeb and 1h29:11 with respect to Moraes.
Price, leader in motorcycles
The Chilean nacho cornejo (Honda) opened his record of victories in the Dakar 2023 by scoring the twelfth stage, which ended in Shaybah (Saudi Arabia), a day that raised the Australian to the lead Toby Price (KTM), although with only 28 seconds of rent compared to the American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna).
Cornejo achieved the sixth partial win of his sports career in the Dakar, all of them in his last four participations in the raid.
The riders completed the two-stage marathon in the Rub al-Jalithe ‘Empty Quarter’ (empty quadrant), an inhospitable Arabian desert where in the second installment they had 191 liaison kilometers and 185 timed, most of them through dry lakes.
The Argentine Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) opened the track after his third stage victory in this Dakar, the one on the first day of the ‘Empty Quarter’, and, after him, the Australians Daniel Sanders (GasGas) and Price.
Only 28 seconds separated Price from Howes in the general classification, who started immediately after him on the stage. The Australian, who was going to add bonuses for being one of the first three on the track, set the best time at 42 kilometers, through which he passed with six seconds ahead of Kevin Benavides (KTM) and 17 compared to Cornejo, while Howes dropped 48 seconds. And that, without counting the compensation for opening the stage.
Price’s lead on Benavides rose to 17 seconds (and another 39 bonus) when passing through the kilometer 87with Cornejo almost half a minute away.
The Chilean took the lead in the time table after 128 kilometers of special with 19 seconds of margin on the older of the Benavides and 31 with respect to Price, who, however, had accumulated 59 seconds of compensation. Howes, who had passed 1:16 behind the Australian at the previous intermission, was closing the gap.
The man from Honda reinforced his lead in real time in the last intermission, at 156 kilometers. He had 38 seconds on Kevin Benavides and 1:25 on Price, who had a 1:12 bonus. The victory was between them and Sanders, who was eleventh in real time, 2:39 behind the leader, but with 3:19 as a prize for opening the track.
The Chilean did not slow down or miss the opportunity and confirmed his victory at the finish line with a time of 1h57:27 that no one could beat, not even with the bonuses. Sanders finished 49 seconds behind and Price gave up 1:58. Howes was sixth at 2:54, the Spanish Tosha Schareina (GasGas) touched the Top 10 at 3:59 and Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco) dropped 5:48.
In the general, with two stages to go, Price overtook Howes, whom he now leads 28 seconds, and Kevin Benavides, fifth today, is 2:40 behind. In the fight to finish in the top ten, Santolino is at 1h02:22 and Schareina, at 1h47:33.
