Loeb wins a new stage and advances in the Al-Attiyah countdown

Loeb marks the victories on every page of the calendar, while Al-Attiyah highlights the victories. Countdown that he started a few days ago on his way to his fifth Dakar.

Shayba and Hz.Empty Quarter(empty quadrant), with 153 contact kilometers and 274 special kilometers in Saudi Arabia, drivers have exceeded 4,000 timed kilometers from the start of the rally and entered the lifeless, strenuous zone of pure sand and dunes. It was the first of two days marathon when they cannot get help

Loeb opened the circuit for the second day in a row and it’s not so bad because the Alsatian set the best time with the Swede at the first checkpoint (20 km.). Mattias Ekstrom He is 33 seconds behind in an attempt to save Audi’s honor at the 2023 Dakar. Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive) was just three seconds behind the only survivors from the German brand after Spain’s Carlos Sainz and France’s Stéphane Peterhansel withdrew from the race.

Al-Attiyah is not willing to take risks that could complicate the fifth. touareg and it has already given over a minute at 20 kilometers. Loeb isn’t committing to it for now, but the Brazilian is more in demand Lucas Moraes (Toyota) took the stage, placing second in the overall classification and a little over 15 minutes ahead of Loeb.

This nine-time world rally champion Kept strong in ‘The Empty Quarter’. Chicherit finished second 1:08 behind his compatriot at kilometer 63, and Ekstrom was third, 1:35 behind the stage leader.

At the next checkpoint (km.89), the advantage extended by 1:51 between the two prodrive and accordingly 2:09 audi. Moraes 3:10 left.

Loeb’s income increased mid-race, and victory was within his grasp. Ekstrom finished second at km 189, but was just 3 minutes behind the stage leader, where he cut by more than a minute at the final waypoint. 40 kilometers to the destination.

French, with victory in his pocket, After opening the track throughout the stage, he reached the finish line with 2:26 ahead of the Swede. Lucas Moraes was behind with 6:12 and now with less than ten minutes left in the general classification (9:53), Al-Attiyah left the Brazilian half a minute longer at the end of the special.

Qatari has a comfortable income 1h21:04 Three stages left over Moraes and 1h30:41 over Loeb.

Howes regains moto lead

Husqvarna with third special victory for the Argentine Luciano Benavides and the leadership was saved by the American Skyler HowesHe was the big winner in motorcycles in the eleventh stage of Dakar between the Shaybah and ‘The Empty Quarter’, the first of the two-day marathon that drove through this inhospitable part of the Saudi Arabian desert where the riders could not participate.

American Skyler Howes (Husqvarna) after handing over the lead to Argentina on Wednesday Kevin Benavides (KTM) set out to save him and he succeeded.

He had already warned of his intentions, setting the best time at the first checkpoint at 20km, but only three seconds behind the German and Luciano, the youngest of the Benavides brothers. Sebastian Buhler (Hero) third to twelve seconds.

Luciano Benavides improved his teammate’s duration by four seconds in the next episode’waypoint‘ (km.63) and took a minute from Chile Paul Quintanilla Partially outperforming Bühler (Honda).

Howes regained stage lead as he passed through the gate. kilometers 89, where he took nine seconds from Argentina and 1:24 from Quintanilla. Victory began to be between the two Husqvarnas.

After halfway through the special (142 km.), the duel was over. There, Benavides once again led the timeline with a fifteen-second lease, and Quintanilla went 1:09.

The first two rows at kilometer 189 did not move, but the third row, which the Australian conceded daniel sanders (KTM) is fourteen seconds better than Quintanilla.

Inside final waypoint (km.237) Luciano Benavides cleared up the picture with 1:44 ahead of Howes but 1:54 with Sanders just less than 40 kilometers away.

At the finish line, the man from Salta scored his third stage victory in this edition of the Dakar Rally, where his record premiered, with Sanders conceding to take second place 1:38 behind the winner. Australian Toby Price (KTM) finished third, 18 seconds behind his compatriot, and Howes finished fourth, 2:09 behind his teammate. Husqvarna.

Kevin Benavides He left 6:22 to his brother and 4:13 to Howes, who took back the lead of the motos. Everything is still very tight. Now, the North American is ahead of Price by 28 seconds and the South American by 2:44.

when it comes to spanish Lawrence Santolino (Sherco) finished eighth, lagging behind Tosha Shareina (GasGas), who finished 5:43 stage winner and twelfth in 8:01. They both swapped their engines before the ‘Empty Quarter’ marathon and were penalized for fifteen minutes, placing eleventh at 59:00 and fourteenth at 1:46:00.