Dakar | Car, Stage 7: Loeb wins and attempts a comeback on Sainz

At the end of the 2024 Dakar there is still a week of racing left and Sébastien Loeb has decided not to give up. The driver of the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team won Stage 7 which took place today, which took the caravan from Riyadh to Al Duwadimi.

The BRX Prodrive team driver literally dominated the entire stage, remaining in the lead for most of the 460 timed kilometers that made up today's test. Thanks to this result, Loeb managed not only to win the third stage in this 46th edition of the Dakar, but also to considerably reduce his gap to the leader of the general classification Carlos Sainz.

At the end of the test, Loeb preceded Lucas Moraes at the wheel of the first Toyota GR Hilux T1+ by just over 7 minutes. The stage podium was completed by Nasser Al-Attiyah, Loeb's brand mate and driver now dedicated to helping the 9-time WRC champion in the chase for what would be Séb's first overall Dakar victory.

Carlos Sainz, leader of the general classification, decided to manage his lead, which reached almost half an hour after the second part of the 48 Hours Stage, but now decreased by a third after today's stage. The Audi Sport driver from Madrid lost just over 10 minutes to Loeb and his margin has now dropped to 19 minutes.

Loeb, in some ways, can complain about choosing to take a 15 minute penalty before the 48 Hour Leg. Without the penalty he would be 4 minutes away from the lead, but it is also true that he could have had less chance of starting in a good position 2 days ago and of recovering several minutes on Sainz.

Sainz, fourth, preceded Guerlain Chicherit by just 6 seconds in the first Toyota GR Hilux T1+ of the Overdrive Racing team. The Frenchman continues to be the author of an excellent Dakar, the best of the team after the terrible retirement of Yazeed Al Rajhi while he was leading the general classification.

Mathieu Serradori instead missed a great opportunity to finish the stage on the podium and even try to win it, losing important minutes between the penultimate and last intermediate stages of the stage. The Century Factory Racing team driver finished outside the Top 5, but continues to be in the top 10 in the overall standings.

Vaidotas Zala, seventh in the first MINI John Cooper Works DKR, is seventh ahead of Seth Quintero. The American of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team had started strongly in the first phase of the stage and seemed to be able to fight to take home the first stage of the Dakar in the Ultimate Car class, but instead he progressively lost ground until finishing eighth ahead of Denis Krotov (Overdrive Racing) and Giniel De Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing).

A day to forget for Mattias Ekstroem, who had to wait for the help of teammate Stéphane Peterhasel to fix a mechanical suspension failure on his official Audi RS Q e-tron and resume the stage. This led him to lose several hours and, consequently, also the Top 10 of the general ranking. With the Swede cut out for a prestigious place in the general classification, Sainz will now be able to count on 2 teammates who can help him in case of need. Loeb, we remember, has Al-Attiyah to support him.

A very difficult day also for M-Sport, which after a few kilometers from the start had to take note of the withdrawal of Nani Roma, who was also stopped by a mechanical failure. The team, making its debut at the Dakar, understood that the road will be very long to get to 2025 ready to fight with the best in the class.

As for the general classification, Carlos Sainz leads the proceedings with an advantage of exactly 19 minutes over the first of his pursuers, Sébastien Loeb. Lucas Moraes was excellent in third with the first Toyota GR Hilux T1+, but more than an hour behind the Audi driver from Madrid. The first private individual in the standings is Guillaume De Mevius (Overdrive Racing), fourth, ahead of Giniel De Villiers with the second official Hilux.

Dakar 2024 – Cars – General classification after Stage 7