Price, leader in motorcycle
France’s Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) keeps stacking stage wins at Dakar 2023, reaching six by Friday, with five in a row and a dramatic resurgence in the standings. The nine-time world rally champion already sits in second place after edging past Brazil’s Lucas Moraes (Toyota), but the overall lead remains with Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) from Qatar. This Dakar edition marks Loeb’s seventh appearance, a parade of familiarity that continues to redefine what a modern endurance rally can deliver. His relentless pace and sharp strategy turned a tense race into a showcase of perseverance and precision, echoing his most famous rallying comebacks.
Loeb’s performance underscores a sensational sequence of outcomes, as he builds a record in this rally’s history. The French driver has added another string to his legendary string of results, eclipsing his previous best marks and illustrating that experience, not just raw speed, can tilt the balance in Dakar’s unforgiving environment. The field is watching an athlete who thrives under pressure, turning each stage into a statement about resilience and consistency amid the desert’s harsh conditions.
Stage twelve, finishing in Shaybah (Saudi Arabia), closed a challenging two-day marathon across Rub al-Khali, a stretch famed for its extreme conditions and isolation. Pilots faced a course that demanded focus from start to finish, moving through a landscape of dry basins, dunes, and shifting sands where every kilometer tested navigation and endurance. The route’s second leg covered roughly 191 kilometers of racing and 185 kilometers of timing, pushing competitors to maintain pace while respecting the unforgiving terrain.
Loeb has become adept at seizing control of the track, often opening the pace and dictating the tempo. After four consecutive victories, the Alsatian pursued a fifth triumph, asserting his dominance in the opening segment and driving the field forward with authority. In the opening 42 kilometers, Al-Attiyah led the way with a 55-second gap, while Sweden’s Mattias Ekström—Surviving at Dakar 2023 with Audi—traveled a solid pace just over a minute behind, and Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive) trailed by close to two minutes. Loeb’s ability to sustain this level of performance sets him apart in a field that includes diversified specialists, each bringing different strengths to the desert stage.
As the rally progressed through the second week, the pace never slackened. Loeb’s adherence to a high-intensity rhythm placed him well ahead at multiple checkpoints, reinforcing his status as one of Dakar’s most intense competitors. By kilometer 87, the gap to Al-Attiyah stood at 1:46, with Ekström 1:55 behind and Moraes slipping further back, trailing by more than five minutes. Moraes’ overall standing began to waver as Loeb’s momentum grew stronger. Loeb continued to press, resets and refines the timing through each checkpoint, carving out a lead that pressured his closest rival and marked a turning point in the race’s dynamics.
Loeb’s persistence paid dividends as he closed the gap to Al-Attiyah on Ekström’s timing, turning a marginal advantage into a near-siege situation within the stage. The Prodrive crew kept the pressure high, widening their lead by more than two minutes over Ekström in the same segment as Moraes tried to stay within striking distance. The overall narrative, however, remained that Loeb was the most consistent performer on the route, and the desert’s brutal conditions favored his calculated approach and calm under pressure.
Entering the later stages, the Frenchman maintained the tempo, while Al-Attiyah attempted to reclaim control. The final checks showed Loeb still edging ahead—2:42 ahead of Ekström and 3:03 in front of the overall leader Al-Attiyah, with Moraes still trying to defend second place. The field’s fight for podium positions intensified as the race moved into its crucial phases, with every second counting in the overall standings and every stage offering a new chance to alter the order.
Loeb closed the day by delivering another flawless performance, opening and sustaining the track to finish the stage in a time of 1:56:21. The margins to Ekström and Al-Attiyah reflected a tactical, precise victory pattern, with Moraes trailing by more than six minutes in the stage results and the overall time extending the gap to the lead. With two stages remaining, Al-Attiyah still held a strong position with a fifth Dakar victory within reach, while Loeb’s relentless push had already rewritten the narrative for this season’s marathon. He stood at 1:27:10 behind the day’s best and 1:29:11 in relation to Moraes, signaling a dramatic finish possible for either the Frenchman or the Qatari depending on how the final tests unfold.
On the motorcycle front, Price’s leadership began with a standout run by Toby Price (KTM) who claimed the day’s top position after Chilean Nacho Cornejo (Honda) opened Dakar 2023 with a record-breaking win in Shaybah, lifting him to the front. Cornejo’s early momentum carried him to a series of partial stage wins across his campaign—an impressive feat in Dakar’s demanding arena. Cornejo’s climb came at Moraes’ expense, as Moraes struggled to keep pace with the relentless pressure from the front row. The field’s narrative in the motorcycles split illustrated a race where steady execution could outpace sheer top speed, a timeless theme in Dakar’s difficult format.
Luciano Benavides (Husqvarna) celebrated a third stage victory early in the event, becoming the first rider to blaze through the opening day of the desert sequence. Australians Daniel Sanders (GasGas) and Price followed, each collecting valuable stage honors and adding energy to a competition already packed with drama. The standings grew tighter as the course moved into the Empty Quarter, with Cornejo and Howes trading positions as the day’s middle moments passed. The tactical exchanges and the timing of the stage openings often decided who carried the lead and who clawed back seconds in the overall tally.
As the race advanced, Cornejo built a narrow cushion over Howes while Price remained within striking distance. The day’s climbs and descents produced a constant flux in the general classification, with Cornejo’s lead over Howes fluctuating by single- to tens-of-seconds margins and other contenders breathing down their necks. Still, the endurance challenge remained immense, demanding not only speed but careful management of fatigue, weather changes, and the ever-present risk of misstep in the sandy, shifting terrain. The motorcycle riders showed immense grit, delivering a narrative of resilience and tactical nous that complemented the car side’s dramatic battles for position and pace.
Looking ahead, the Dakar field would complete the remaining stages with the same intensity that has defined the event—pairs of riders and drivers exchanging leads, testing the limits of their equipment, and pushing to secure a place among the most storied finishers in rally raid history. The race’s final days would reveal whether Loeb could extend his run of stage wins into a historic closing stretch or whether Al-Attiyah could rally to claim a fifth Dakar crown, a milestone that would reverberate across the sport. The motorcycles’ leaders likewise faced a decisive path to victory, where every kilometer could redefine the podium and reshape the Dakar narrative for 2023. [Source: Dakar Rally results and race reports]
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