The Saud Dakar 2023 rally competition continued today, Wednesday, January 11, with the start of the tenth stage from Harad to Shaibah for a distance of 622 km, including 508 km for the connecting stage and 114 km for the special stage for time. Frenchman Sebastian Loeb of the Bahrain Red Extreme team scored first in the car category with a time of 1 hour 48 minutes and 32 seconds, beating Sweden’s Matthias Ekström of Audi by 3 minutes 4 seconds. seconds, followed by the Brazilian Lucas Moraes, the pilot of the Overdrive team, third, 5 minutes 22 seconds back.
Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar, driver of the Toyota Gazoo team, retained the lead in the overall standings, leading Brazil’s Lucas Moraes by an hour, 21 minutes and 34 seconds, followed by France’s Sebastien Loeb in third place by an hour. , 37 minutes and 23 seconds.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, driver of the Audi team, has announced his withdrawal from the 2023 AD Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. as a result of the accident he suffered which resulted in damage to his car and the inability to return to competition to join his French teammate Peter Hansel, champion of the Dakar Rally with 13 titles. And who decided to withdraw after the accident and injury of his co-driver, leaving Swede Matthias Ekstrom alone in this category of the Audi team.
Team Hero’s Ross Branch from Botswana managed to take first place in the motorcycle category in an hour and 44 minutes, while France’s Adrien Van Beveren came in second, 21 seconds back, followed by South African Michael Doherty, who fell behind, in third place. from the leader for 30 seconds.
Argentinian Kevin Benavidez of Team Red Bull KTM moved up to first place in the category overall standings, while American Skyler Hawes of Team Husqvarna dropped a minute and 29 seconds and Australian Toby Finished Price of the team Red Bull KTM, in third place, 2 minutes 10 seconds back.
Tagator Racing’s Marcelo Medeiros of Brazil set the fastest time in the ATV category at two hours, 4 minutes and 28 seconds, followed by Manuel Andujar of the 7240 team of Argentina. , with a difference of one minute and 8 seconds, while Giovanni came. Enrico of Enrico Racing is third, 2 minutes 55 seconds back.
France’s Alexandre Giroud of Team Yamaha managed to hold on to first place overall by one hour, 17 minutes and 56 seconds, with Argentine Francesco Moreno of Team Drag behind him. on Rally” and Manuel Andujar took third place, one hour, 38 minutes and 44 seconds off the leaderboard.
In the desert light car category “T3”, American Seth Quintero, driver of the “Red Bull Offroad Junior” team, finished first in this stage with a time of 1 hour 55 minutes 17 seconds, and Ignaso Casal, driver of the “X-Raid Yamaha” team took second place by 37 seconds, and the Portuguese Helder Rodriguez, driver of the South Racing Can-Am team, took third place, two minutes and 46 seconds behind the leader.
The Belgian Guillaume de Mevius of the G Rally Team continued to lead the overall standings, 7 minutes and 48 seconds ahead of the American Austin Jones of the Red Bull Offroad Junior Team in second place, followed by his American fellow to Seth Quintero’s team by 1 hour 3 minutes 42 seconds per second.
Spain’s Gerard Faris took first place in the “T4” desert light commercial vehicle category with a time of one hour 58 minutes and 22 seconds, ahead of Poland’s Marek Gochal of the “Energy Landia Rally Team” by 55 seconds, followed by his son Eric Gochal in center, third, 1 minute and 8 seconds behind the leader.
Lithuanian Rokas Pasiushka, a Red Bull Can-Am driver, was able to keep the lead, while Poland’s Eric Gochal reduced the time difference to 3 minutes 40 seconds and Spaniard Gerard Faris finished third, 6 minutes and 47 seconds behind the leader.
In the truck category, the Dutchman Pascal de Bar, the driver of the Rewald Dakar team, managed to take first place in this stage with a time of 2 hours 9 minutes 45 seconds, and the Dutchman Mitchell Van Denbrink took first place. driver of Eurol Team De Rooy by 22 seconds, while Dutch driver Janus van Casteren of Eurol Team de Rooy came third, 1 minute and 12 seconds behind the leader.
Tomorrow morning, Thursday, January 12, 2023, the competitions of the eleventh stage will start, which will be a marathon stage in the Empty Quarter, starts from the Puck at a distance of 424 km, of which 151 km will be on the connecting stage. , and 273 km for the special stage, depending on the timing, subject to the completion of the second part of the program. The Empty Quarter marathon stage is included in the twelfth stage, which starts on Friday, January 13th.
