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Qatari driver Nasser al-Attiyah won his fifth Dakar rally in cars on Sunday. In the same competition, the Argentine pilot Kevin Benavides won his second title, in motorcycling.
The Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) won his fifth Dakar rally raid in cars on Sunday, January 15, at the end of the fourteenth and final stage in Dammam (Saudi Arabia), in which the Argentine Kevin Benavides won his second rally Dakar on motorcycles.
A three-time stage winner this year and already winner of the famous rally in 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2022, Nasser al-Attiyah was ahead of Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (Prodrive) and Brazilian Lucas Moraes (Toyota) by more than an hour, 25 years old, competing for the first time.
“Really difficult weather conditions for everyone”
Leading since the third stage, which started on December 31 from the shores of the Red Sea near Yanbu, the 52-year-old saw an opportunity open as his main competitors bit the Saudi dust in succession.
“I am very happy to win the Dakar again and to have retained my title. The weather conditions of this Dakar have been really difficult for everyone. Mathieu (Baumel, his co-driver) did a great job,” al-Attiyah said.
Sébastien Loeb said goodbye to final victory on stage 2, trailing by one hour and 26 minutes due to three punctures. Although he failed again in his attempt to conquer the Dakar, the former WRC world rally champion nevertheless put in a strong performance by taking six consecutive stage victories in this edition, an unprecedented performance.
“After the rally start we had, we couldn’t expect much better than that. Nasser was intractable at all times, he drove a great race and made no mistakes,” said the 48-year-old from Alsatian.
“A dream” for Benavides
For his part, Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi), the great favourite, retired on January 6 after an accident in which his co-driver Edouard Boulanger was injured.
Stuck in the same place, Spaniard Carlos Sainz couldn’t overcome the more than 28 hours of penalties he had to pay and finally threw in the towel on stage nine on January 10.
In the motorcycle category, the stage was much more impressive and it was the Argentine Kevin Benavides, after 15 days of fierce battle, who finally prevailed over the Australian Toby Price in the last stage.
At the finish line on Sunday, in Dammam, after almost 45 hours of racing and more than 8,000 km covered in the ultra-conservative kingdom, Kevin Benavides finally beat the Australian by 43 seconds. “It’s incredible. It’s a dream, it’s my second victory in the Dakar. This edition has been incredible. We fought a lot with Toby (Price) and Skyler (Howes). It was very close,” said the South American.
time credit
As in the car race, Kevin Benavides also benefited from the withdrawal of serious contenders for the final victory, led by the British Sam Sunderland, defending champion, who was forced to retire after a crash in the first stage.
On January 3, it was the turn of American Ricky Brabec, winner of the 2020 edition, to retire after a fall during the 3rd stage between Al-Ula and Haïl. On January 10, the Catalan Joan Barreda disappeared from the classification, who in 2022 had made history by surpassing the 27 stage victories of the great Jordi Arcarons.
The battle was close among the other drivers, especially over the introduction of bonuses to reward drivers who opened the tracks. A system that especially helped Howes, who benefited from more than twelve minutes of compensation and kept the overall lead for several days.
It was also a time credit that allowed Kevin Benavides to clinch the final victory.
The Argentine was in an ideal position to win his second Dakar by winning the penultimate stage and cutting 12 seconds off provisional leader Toby Price, who made up 23 minutes after the stage to assist the injured Matthias Walkner.
This 45th edition of the emblematic Dakar rally, reputed to be the most difficult in the world, was even longer than the previous year: a prologue and 14 stages through rocks, sand and dunes, including one, the seventh, canceled by the motorcycles.
with AFP
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