Acknowledging some of the frustrations from his slow start to this year’s Dakar Rally, Sébastien Loeb took his first win of the year in Tuesday’s fourth tier. The French rally legend set the fastest time of the day in his Prodrive Hunter over the 299km. from Al Salamiya to Al Hofuf for his 24th Dakar victory. Loeb edged out of steady Yazeed Al Rajhi by 1’08s, while the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux driver extended his lead in the overall standings.
“It was a very good day for us — we did a clean stage,” said Loeb, who is now sixth overall, 23m50s behind Al Rajhi. “We were a bit in the dust for sure, because we started far back and we had to overtake a lot of cars. At one point we missed a waypoint and had to go back for about 30 seconds, but for the rest we did a very good stage, so no problems.”
Reigning Dakar champion Nasser Al Attiyah was third in his own Prodrive Hunter, making his comeback after a troubled start to this year’s rally. The Qatari was 1:22 behind Loeb in the level and is now third overall Carlos Sainz Sr. , who finished fourth. today with his Audi RS Q e-tron. The Spanish veteran is 4’29” behind the Saudi leader, while Al Attiyah is 11’03”.
“We’re getting to know our new car and we’ll see, because it’s not easy,” Al Attiyah said of his chances of winning a third consecutive Dakar, which would be his sixth overall with four other manufacturers. The level was fast and a lot of disorders arose, but now I think step by step we can get back to the top. “
In the opposite direction was Seth Quintero, whose hopes of finishing his first Dakar in the top category strongly evaporated when his Toyota got stuck with a mechanical problem, having once again shown sensible pace. The American had to wait more than two years. Hours and a half for your team before leaving the special road tour. It was a blow to Quintero, who had finished fourth as a rookie of maximum elegance.
In the motorcycle category, it was another great day for the Monster Energy Honda team, as Nacho Cornejo overtook his local teammate Ricky Brabec, the Spaniard 2:59 seconds ahead of the American and took the overall lead ahead of Ross Branch (Hero Motorsports), who finished fourth behind Kevin Benavides (Red Bull KTM). Branch left with a smile on his face despite a difficult level that saw some crashes for the Botswana rider.
“Yes, I thought I’d try a curved style handlebar today!No, it was a hard day for me, one of those days I’d rather forget,” Branch said. “I crashed after 40km, just look at the exit I took a look at the e-book of the road and hit a rock. Then I fell backwards 20km before the end just as I was entering the dunes. It was some camel grass hidden in the sand and it threw me over the handlebars. But I’m fine and the bike can be repaired. I don’t think I’ve wasted too much time.
Branch is now 1’15” behind Cornejo and Brabec is in 3rd place, 4’56” behind the leader.
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