Yesterday, Friday, January 13, the second marathon stage of the twelfth stage of the Saudi Dakar Rally 2023 took place, which ran from the Empty Quarter to the Puck, for a distance of 373 km, of which 188 km are the connecting stage, and 185 km for the timed stage . Bahrain Red Extreme took first place in the car category for the fifth time in a row and sixth in this edition, as Loeb achieved this victory with a time of one hour, 56 minutes and 21 seconds, while Swede Matthias Ekström, driver of the Audi team, finished with a difference of 3 minutes 19 seconds. Finishing second was Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar, Toyota Gazoo driver, who finished third, 3 minutes 31 seconds behind Loeb. .
Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar retained first place overall, one hour 27 minutes and 10 seconds ahead of France’s Sebastien Loeb, who took second place from Brazil’s Lucas Morais, who dropped to third place, by one hour. , 29 minutes and 11 seconds.
Chile’s Nacho Cornejo of Team Monster Energy took first place in the motorcycle category with an hour of 57 and 27 seconds, followed by Australia’s Daniel Sanders of Team Red Bull Gas Gas in second place by just 49 seconds, and his compatriot Toby Price of Team Red Bull, KTM is third, 1 minute 28 seconds back.
Australian Toby Price was able to climb to the top of the overall standings, 28 seconds behind American Skylar Hawes of Husqvarna, who dropped to second to sixth at that stage, while Argentinian Kevin Yennavides of Husqvarna. The Red Bull KTM team takes place by 1.5 seconds. Two minutes 40 seconds.
Brazil’s Marcelo Medeiros of Tagator Racing managed to take first place in the ATV category with a time of 2 hours 37 minutes and 4 seconds, followed by Slovak Juraj Varga of Varga Motor. Sports” with a difference of one minute and 36 seconds, and after them in third place with a difference of 4 minutes and 7 seconds came the Chilean Giovanni Enrico, the rider of the Enrico Racing team.
France’s Alexandre Giroud of Team Yamaha retained the overall lead, 59 minutes behind Argentina’s Francesco Moreno of Team Drag-on-Rally, runner-up, and American Pablo Copetti, driver of Del Amo Motorsports. The Motul team finished third with a difference of two hours 17 minutes and 30 seconds.
American Mitchell Guthrie, driver of the Red Bull Offroad Junior team, took first place in the category of light cars for the desert, setting a time of two hours 17 minutes and 11 seconds, ahead of the Chilean Ignacio Casale, driver of the Yamaha team, 29 seconds back, the Belgian finished Guillaume de Mevius, the G-Rally team is in third place, 52 seconds back.
American Austin Jones continued to lead the overall standings in this category, followed by his colleague Seth Quintero, second, an hour, 4 minutes and 37 seconds back, followed by Belgian Guillaume de Mevius, third, an hour behind, 25 and 50 seconds. .
In the T4 desert light commercial vehicle category, Pole Mitchell Gotzal, driver of the Energy Landia Rally Team, took first place with a time of 2 hours 19 minutes and 7 seconds, followed by Lithuanian Rukas Pasiushka. , driver of the Red Bull Can-Am team, by 7 minutes 43 seconds, and behind them the Pole Martin Gochal with a difference of 16 minutes 43 seconds.
Lithuanian Basiushka strengthened his lead in the overall standings, ahead of Pole Eric Goksal by 7 minutes 43 seconds and 16 minutes 43 seconds behind Marek Goksal, who took third place.
In the truck category, Dutchman Janus van Casteren of the De Rooy team took first place with two hours, 30 minutes and 38 seconds ahead of his compatriot Mitchell Vandenbrink of the Eurol Team De Rooy. team, at 18 minutes and 38 seconds, followed by his father Martin Vandenbrink third, at 31 minutes and 51 seconds.
In the overall standings, Dutchman Janus van Kasteren was able to retain first place overall, ahead of Dutchman Martin Vandenbrink by 33 minutes and 3 seconds, while Czech Martin Macek retained third place, 1 hour 20 minutes and 7 seconds. per.
The Dutchman Pascal de Bar, the driver of the Rewald Dakar team, who took first place in the tenth stage, encountered a mechanical problem, due to which he returned to the Al-Bayt camp.
Participants will depart today, Saturday, January 14, from the Desert Quarter to start the 13th leg of the Saudi Dakar Rally 2023 AD, which will run from Sheiba to Al Hofuf over a distance of 673 km, including 520 km for the connecting leg and 153 for a special stage depending on the time.
