2024-01-12 10:37:06
It was the stage of all dangers, the one that all the competitors feared. And she did damage. This Friday morning, the Dakar drivers arrived at the end of the “48-hour” stage, contested over two days and in total autonomy in the Saudi desert. And it was Sébastien Loeb and his co-driver, the Belgian Fabian Lurquin, who did the best, ahead of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz by two minutes.
The Frenchman, nine-time WRC world champion, had taken a lot of risks before this stage by deliberately missing a waypoint (a stage point to be validated), so as not to open the road and benefit from the tracks of his competitors during the two days. A choice which ultimately paid off but which may not be sufficiently profitable to secure the general classification given the performance of Spanish veteran Carlos Sainz.
Catastrophe for Al-Attiyah, Al-Rajhi and Peterhansel
In the lead all day Thursday, the father of the Formula 1 driver mastered his subject perfectly this Friday to concede only two minutes to Sébastien Loeb. Thanks to this second place, he takes the lead in the general classification, with 20 minutes ahead of his runner-up, the Swede Ekström, and almost 30 minutes over Sébastien Loeb. “Thirty minutes late is a lot but it’s not lost,” assures the French driver on l’equipe.fr. We stay in the match. We will take advantage of the rest day and then the goal will be to continue to do great stages. It won’t be easy to come back to these Audis which are very efficient, but we will try to keep them under pressure. »
Second before this marathon stage, and in the mix this Thursday despite their opening position, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel experienced a major technical problem around fifteen kilometers from the finish and lost 2h45. The two men can therefore give up on a fifth joint success in this event.
Other competitors lost any chance of final victory this Thursday. This is particularly the case of the one who nevertheless dominated the race, Yazeed Al-Rajhi, forced to abandon after rolling over, and of “Mister Dakar”, Stéphane Peterhansel, victim of a mechanical problem.
The competitors will now be able to benefit from a day of rest, before setting off again this Sunday to tackle the last six stages. And even if Carlos Sainz seems to have taken a significant lead, the battle should still be tough.
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