Loeb takes Dakar 7th stage as al-Attiyah retains lead
RIYADH: Sebastien Loeb annexed the Dakar Rally seventh stage to move to the top of the chasing group behind runaway leader Nasser al-Attiyah on Sunday.
Loeb, France’s nine-time world rally champion, landed his second win of 2022 as the gruelling road trip across the Saudi Arabian desert resumed after Saturday’s rest day.
He crossed the finish line at the end of the 402km drive from Riyadh to alDawadimi almost five and a half minutes clear of al-Attiyah.
But it was not all plain sailing for the 47-year-old whose best result from five Dakar attempts was second in 2017.
“We had a fantastic special until 50 kilometres before the line, when we started having engine problems,” he said.
“It just sputtered on, off and on again. We lost a lot of time near the end, but we still came out on top, so no complaints from my side.”
He then lifted the lid on his masterplan to derail al-Attiyah’s march to the title: “There is no strategy. We’ll just do our job and see how it plays out.”
Qatari al-Attiyah steers his Toyota into the second and final week with a huge 44min 59sec lead from Loeb, his fourth Dakar title seemingly his to lose.
Home favourite Yazeed al-Rahji was third, just over eight minutes behind Loeb.
For al-Attiyah, the priority now is to “give it our all day after day and hope that it will pay off at the end of the Dakar”.
While al-Attiyah has a tight grip on the car standings, there was a new name at the top of the bike race with France’s Adrien Van Beveren the new leader after a stage won by Chile’s Jose Cornejo Florimo and which proved costly to Sam Sunderland.
The Briton lined up at the start leading the two-wheeled hunt for the 2022 title but ended it down in fourth after losing 20 minutes.