Dakar | Loeb: “Al-Attiyah ran for himself, certainly not to help me”

The tenth stage of the 2024 Dakar was a new episode in the fight for the Touareg trophy between Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb, who were only twenty minutes apart, but with puncture problems along the 371 timed kilometers around the city of Al-Ula , the difference was reduced to just thirteen, with two special stages to go before the checkered flag.

The Frenchman, once he got out of his car, spoke to the media, where he assured that everything is more complicated for him than for his rival, given that Audi still has two support vehicles, that of Stéphane Peterhansel and Mattias Ekstrom to come to the Spaniard's rescue, while he is the only one at Prodrive following the departure of Nasser Al Attiyah.

The Qatari, after his double retirement, decided to return home, despite having an extra wild card to come back and help Sébastien Loeb in case of a puncture or mechanical problem, which was the main problem for the nine-time WRC champion: “He did what he wanted. Of course, he wasn't motivated to continue, he had some problems and there was a moment when he decided to abandon, it's his decision, he was doing his rally, not the Dakar to help me, it is what it is”.

“If I had a car behind me tomorrow, it would be better. We'll see what we can do,” explained the rooster, who will start the eleventh special stage from the back, which perhaps might not be so good in case of dust, but it would be nice if they cleared the road of rocks for him in front.

“I hope [che puliscano la strada], I hope so, because today we saw a lot of problems,” said the Frenchman. “For me, when I changed the tires today, two cars passed me and it was impossible to stay behind because you couldn't see anything and it was very risky to have a another puncture in such a situation. I hope that tomorrow we will have the chance to overtake.”

Furthermore, the Bahrain Raid : “Exactly, at the end of the day, that's the goal.”