The seventh stage of the 2024 Dakar allowed Sébastien Loeb to take his 26th stage victory in the history of the toughest race in the world, but in addition to this, the French driver managed to reduce the distance in the general classification from Carlos Sainz, and the gap between the two has now dropped to 19 minutes.
The Frenchman managed to collect a good victory, his rival also assured that he had beaten “everyone”, and when he got out of the car, after the welcome that his mechanics and engineers gave him at the Al Duwadimi bivouac after 483 kilometers timed, he spoke about the duel he will have against the Spaniard, and he preferred not to have to resort to the help of Nasser Al-Attiyah.
The Qatari has already made it known that, if he were to help his teammate in the Prodrive facility get his first Touareg trophy, he would do so, so the Bahrain Raid Xtreme driver was asked: “I don't want to use Nasser's help [Al-Attiyah]. If I stop and he has to help me, then something isn't right for us.”
“I hope I don't need it, but if there are three punctures and he is close, obviously his help will be useful”, commented Sébastien Loeb who also explained how the special stage went in which he beat all his rivals over seven minutes, even if the essential thing is to beat the Audi driver, which he really likes.
Photo by: ASO
#203 Bahrain Raid Xtreme Prodrive Hunter: Sebastien Loeb, Fabian Lurquin
“I always like to fight Carlos [Sainz]. I know that he is very strong and very motivated, so it is not easy to beat him,” he said. “I tried to always push, but without taking too many risks in the hardest part. I wanted to take care of the tires, except at the end, where I pushed hard on the rocks because there were only a few kilometers to go.”
“For the rest we were cautious, because there were many traps in the roadbook, many navigations and crossings where we could have lost a lot of time”, commented Sébastien Loeb, who also defined the advantage gained against the Spaniard as something ” good”, and hopes to continue in the same way as he did in the seventh stage.
“Of course it's positive, we always try to push, to make up time, and today, fortunately, it worked. Let's hope it continues like this, we always do the same thing,” he said. “We try to make good stages. Here everything can go one way or the other at any moment.
“You have to stay focused, do good navigation and stay a little safe in the complex sections to be able to continue in the more advantageous/easier ones. Today it worked and we hope it continues like this,” said the rooster about what awaits him .
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