Today, HRH Prince Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Governor of the Eastern Province, sponsored the closing ceremony of the Saudi Dakar Rally 2023 and the coronation of the winners at the King Abdulaziz Itra International Center in the presence of HRH Prince Khalid bin Sultan Abdullah Al Faisal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation and Saudi Motorsports, and His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Sports, Mr. Badr bin Abdul Rahman Al Qadi. His Highness, the Emir of the Eastern Province, confirmed that the wise leadership – God help him – is providing unlimited support to various sports, as well as the infrastructure and organization for hosting the World Cups, noting the great opportunities that the Kingdom has. hold the most important world championships in various sports, and this is one of the important tournaments that the Kingdom has managed to organize, praise God.
The closing ceremony saw the crowning of race winners in six categories (cars, motorcycles, ATVs, trucks and light desert vehicles, in addition to the Dakar Classic category) following the conclusion of the fourteenth stage of the race. , whose competition started from Hofuf to Dammam, with an A-distance of 406 km in total, of which 270 km is the connecting stage and 136 km is the timed special stage.
At the end of the fourth edition of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, a Toyota Gazoo team driver, came first in the car category with an hour, 20 minutes and 49 seconds. France’s Sébastien Loeb of Bahrain Red Extreme team runner-up and Brazil’s Lucas Moraes of Overdrive team finished third by 1 hour 38 minutes and 31 seconds, competing in the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia for the first time.
Al-Attiyah managed to claim his fifth title of his career and second in a row, taking second place among the most titled drivers at the Dakar Rally, behind France’s Peterhansel, who has 8 titles to his name, and Al-Attiyah ousted Finn Ari Vatanen from second place in the standings year, distinguished himself in this variant.
In the motorcycle category, Argentinian Kevin Benavidez of the Red Bull KTM team took first place in the Saudi Dakar Rally 2023 AD, second place was taken by the Australian Toby Price of the Red Bull KTM team, followed by the American. Skyler Hawes, Red Bull KTM Team Husqvarna rider in third place.
France’s Alexandre Giraud of Team Yamaha won the ATV rally title for the second time in a row, becoming the second rider to win a rally event twice in a row after Alejandro of Argentina. Patronelli in 2011-2012. The second place was taken by the Argentinean Francesco Moreno, the pilot of the Drag team on Rally”, the third place was taken by the American Pablo Copete.
American Austin Jones, Red Bull Offroad Junior team driver, won the Dakar Rally Saudi Arabia 2023 title in the T3 desert light car category, 50 minutes behind American Seth Quintero, Red Bull Offroad runner-up , and finished third in the overall standings Belgian Guillaume de Mevius, pilot of the G Rally team.
Poland’s Erik Gochal, driver of the Energy Landia Rally Team, the youngest participant in the rally, won the title in the T4 light commercial vehicle category in his first entry, while Lithuanian Rukas Patsiushka, driver of the Red Bull Can-Am team won the title, with Marek of Poland in second place. Gochal, in third place.
In the truck category, Dutchman Janus van Kasteren, the driver of the De Rooy team, managed to take first place in this category, breaking the dominance of the KAMAZ team in the truck category, starting in 2017. Czech Martin Macek, the driver of the M team, took second place in the M-Technology ranking, and the Dutchman Martin Van Denbrink, the driver of the Eurol Team de Rooy, took third place in the overall standings.
It is worth noting that the fourth Saudi-Dakar 2023 rally, which is the 45th in the history of the rally, was attended by 820 drivers and navigators in all six categories of the rally.
