Sebastien Loeb wins Dakar Stage 7 amid engine issues

Sebastien Loeb wins Dakar Stage 7 amid engine issues

Nine-time WRC Champion, Sébastien Loeb reclaimed second place in the Dakar 2022 overall standings after winning Dakar Rally Stage 7.

Having won the seventh stage, the first one following the Saturday rest day, Loeb is once again Nasser Al-Attiyah’s biggest rival for this second week of the offroad endurance competition.

Loeb re-established himself as Al-closest Attiyah’s opponent with a dominant stage victory when the rally began with a 402km test from Riyadh to Al Dawadimi, after dropping to third in the general classification after two navigational blunders on Friday.

In spite of problems with his Hunter, the nine-time World Rally Champion put together a strong Stage 6 despite being in the red.

“We had a fantastic special until 50km before the line, when we started having engine problems,” Loeb said in an interview after the race.

“It just sputtered on, off and on again… We lost a lot of time near the end, but we still came out on top, so no complaints from my side.”

“We’re not in a position of strength, there are no questions to be answered. There is no strategy… We’ll just do our job and see how it plays out,” he concluded.

At the start of the stage, the Prodrive/Bahrain team driver was embroiled in a close battle with Audi’s Carlos Sainz, as he was behind his old WRC teammate by just four seconds at 121 kilometers in the race. However, at the following checkpoint, Loeb was more than three minutes ahead, and he went on to win his 16th Dakar stage by a margin of 5m26s.

Al-Attiyah leapfrogged Sainz to finish second in the Stage 7 standings. The Qatari driver was never in contention for the win, falling over seven minutes behind Loeb at one point, but recouped part of the time to finish second.

Audi was strong with its RS Q e-tron racer with Stephane Peterhansel finishing fourth, 6m40s off the pace of Sebastien Loeb, and Mattias Ekstrom finishing eighth. Three Overdrive Toyota entries, including one driven by Yazeed Al-Rajhi, separated the Audi pair. In the second Prodrive car, Nani Roma had a ninth-place finish and Vladimir Vasilyev in his own BMW X5 rounded out the top 10.

With five stages remaining, Loeb has cut Al Attiyah’s lead to 44m59s in the general classification, with Al Rajhi currently the only other driver ranging within an hour of the three-time Dakar champion. Lucio Alvarez, Al Rajhi’s teammate, sits fourth, while Jakub Przygonski is ranked fifth for X-raid Mini.

Audi’s best rival, Ekstrom, has moved up to 12th in the preliminary position, while Sainz has moved up to 18th.

Results Stage 7 Dakar Rally 2022

PositionDorsalPilotTeamWeatherDifference
1211(FRA) SEBASTIEN LOEB (BEL) FABIAN LURQUINBAHRAIN RAID XTREME03H 09′ 32”
2201(QAT) NASSER AL-ATTIYAH(AND) MATTHIEU BAUMELTOYOTA GAZOO RACING03H 14′ 58”+ 00H 05 ’26’ ‘
3202(ESP) CARLOS SAINZ (ESP) LUCAS CRUZTEAM AUDI SPORT03H 17′ 15”+ 00H 07 ’43’ ‘
4200(FRA) STÉPHANE PETERHANSEL (FRA) EDOUARD BOULANGERTEAM AUDI SPORT03H 19′ 12”+ 00H 09 ’40’ ‘
5205(SAU) YAZEED AL RAJHI(GBR) MICHAEL ORROVERDRIVE TOYOTA03H 19′ 35”+ 00H 10 ’03’ ‘
6217(NLD) BERNHARD TEN BRINKE (FROM) SÉBASTIEN DELAUNAYOVERDRIVE TOYOTA03H 22′ 26”+ 00H 12 ’54’ ‘
7222(ARG) LUCIO ALVAREZ(ESP) ARMAND MONLEONOVERDRIVE TOYOTA03H 23′ 09”+ 00H 13 ’37’ ‘
8224(SWE) MATTIAS EKSTROM (SWE) EMIL BERGKVISTTEAM AUDI SPORT03H 24′ 14”+ 00H 14 ’42’ ‘
9204(ESP) NANI ROMA (ESP) ALEX HARO BRAVOBAHRAIN RAID XTREME03H 25′ 22”+ 00H 15 ’50’ ‘
10208(RAF) VLADIMIR VASILYEV (LVA) OLEG UPERENKOGARDEN TEAM03H 27′ 37”+ 00H 18 ’05’ ‘
11221(ARG) ORLANDO TERRANOVA (ESP) DANIEL OLIVERAS CARRERASBAHRAIN RAID XTREME03H 27′ 53”+ 00H 18 ’21’ ‘
12233(ZAF) SHAMEER VARIAWA (ZAF) DANIE STASSENTOYOTA GAZOO RACING03H 28′ 08”+ 00H 18 ’36’ ‘
13230(ZAF) BRIAN BARAGWANATH(ZAF) LEONARD CREMERCENTURY RACING03H 28′ 12”+ 00H 18 ’40’ ‘
14203(POL) JAKUB PRZYGONSKI (DEU) TIMO GOTTSCHALKX-RAID MINI JCW TEAM03H 28′ 37”+ 00H 19 ’05’ ‘
15209(CZE) MARTIN PROKOP (CZE) VIKTOR CHYTKABENZINA ORLEN TEAM03H 29′ 16”+ 00H 19 ’44’ ‘
16223(ARG) SEBASTIAN HALPERN (ARG) BERNARDO GRAUEX-RAID MINI JCW TEAM03H 30′ 57”+ 00H 21 ’25’ ‘
17234(LTU) VAIDOTAS ZALA(PRT) PAULO FIUZATELTONIKA RACING03H 32′ 32”+ 00H 23 ’00’ ‘
18212(FRA) MATHIEU SERRADORI (FRA) LOIC MINAUDIERSRT RACING03H 32′ 41”+ 00H 23 ’09’ ‘
19278(BRA) MARCELO TIGLIA GASTALDI (BRA) CADU SACHSCENTURY RACING03H 34′ 09”+ 00H 24 ’37’ ‘
20235(FRA) MICHAEL PISANO (FRA) MAX DELFINOMD RALLYE SPORT03H 34′ 34”+ 00H 25 ’02’ ‘
21263(FRA) FRANÇOIS COUSIN (FRA) STÉPHANE COUSINDUNES COMPANY03H 37′ 20”+ 00H 27 ’48’ ‘
22220(CHN) WEI HAN(CHN) LI MAHANWEI MOTORSPORT TEAM03H 39′ 09”+ 00H 29 ’37’ ‘
23214(FRA) CHRISTIAN LAVIEILLE (FRA) JOHNNY AUBERTMD RALLYE SPORT03H 42′ 16”+ 00H 32 ’44’ ‘
24229(FROM) RONAN CHABOT (FROM) GILLES PILLOTOVERDRIVE TOYOTA03H 45′ 27”+ 00H 35 ’55’ ‘
25250(BEL) ALEXANDRE LEROY (FRA) NICOLAS DELANGUESRT RACING03H 50′ 33”+ 00H 41 ’01’ ‘

Leave a Reply