Sébastien Loeb gets his third victory in a row in the 2023 Dakar and awaits a problem from Al-Attiyah to have options for absolute victory.
Except for a major surprise, Sébastien Loeb will not fight for absolute victory in the 2023 Dakar Rally, but that will not prevent him from getting as many stage victories as possible with the BRX Hunter. The French driver has achieved today his fourth partial victory so far in the rally and remains in third place in the general classification, although very far from the leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Loeb continues his comeback after the problems suffered at the start of the Dakar Rally, which left him out of the fight for absolute victory. With his fourth stage win, the third in a row, the nine-time world rally champion has managed to narrow the gap to the second-placed Dakar, rookie Lucas Moraes, who is in second position.
Today, although ‘Seb’ has done an impeccable stage with which he has achieved victory despite opening the track, leading the Qatari by more than five minutes, the difference in favor of Nasser is still large, 1 hour and 37 minutes.
After Loeb, today the ‘podium’ of the stage was completed by Mattias Ekström, at the wheel of the only Audi that survived in the race, and Lucas Moraes, who finished third with a few seconds ahead of Al-Attiyah.
To opt for the ‘touareg’, Loeb will have to overcome Moraes – from whom he is still 16 minutes away – and wait for a problem for the current first place, Al-Attiyah, who continues without making mistakes or suffering mechanical problems on a day-to-day basis. The Qatari, as is normal, has slowed down to avoid scares.
Sixth was the best Spaniard in the classification, Armand Monleón, who co-drives Jakub Przygonski in the new MINI that X-Raid has lined up.
Classification of Stage 10 of the Dakar 2023 in Cars
- Loeb/Lurquin (BRX) 1:48.32
- Ekstrom/Bergkvist (Audi) +3:04
- Moraes/Gottschalk (Overdrive) +5:22
- Al-Attiyah/Baumel (Toyota) +5:45
- Al-Rajhi/Von Zitzewitz (Overdrive) +6:01
Branch wins in Motorcycles
In the motorcycle category, victory went to Ross Branch (Hero), who beat Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) by 21 seconds and Michael Docherty (Husqvarna) by thirty. After the tenth stage, Kevin Benavides (KTM) leads, with an advantage of 1 minute and 29 seconds over Skyler Howes (Husqvarna). Third is Toby Price (KTM), 2 minutes and 10 seconds behind.
The Dakar 2023 will continue tomorrow, with the eleventh stage, which will take the competitors from Shaybah to the Empty Quarter, in what will be the first part of the marathon stage, at the end of which the participants will not have assistance.
