Dakar Auto, stage 7: amazing Loeb. Recover 10 minutes in Sainz | FormulaPassion

Ten minutes taken away

There was no shortage of great twists in the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally from the Saudi capital Riyadh to Al Duwadimi, after a journey of 483 km total. The day after the collective rest, Sebastien Loeb won his second consecutive race, recovering ten and a half minutes on Carlos Sainzfourth in today's rankings behind Moraes and Al Attiyah but maintaining leadership in the general ranking.

KO for Roma and Ekstrom

In home Audi there is therefore no reason to celebrate this result, given what also happened with his other riders during the long stage in the desert. Already a few kilometers after the start, this year's edition first greeted the two-time winner of the Dakar Nani Romeforced into a withdrawal due to a technical problem. Shortly after, it was above all who definitively gave up the chances of victory Mattias Ekstrom. The Swede from Audi, who until today occupied 2nd place in the general classification, also interrupted his internship for another broken down. In the following minutes, Peterhansel he stopped to help his teammate with the repairs, but the intervention proved useless, so much so that Ekstrom himself had to wait for the assistance team of the Four Circles to be able to continue, losing precious time to stay in the fight for victory. As the stage continued, the absolute protagonist was Loeb, at the wheel of his Prodrive. The winner of nine WRC titles in fact pushed to recover as much ground as possible on Sainz, managing to reduce his gap from the Spaniard to 19 minutes, recording a time faster than 10.31 minutes compared to that of the Madrilenian, 4th at the end of the day. Moraes is momentarily present on the podium, 2nd today ahead of Al Attiyah and third in the general classification.

Dakar 2024, Car ranking – Stage 7 (Top-10)

Dakar 2024, General car ranking after stage 7 (Top-10)