Dakar 2023 – Stage 9: Loeb wins and climbs on the overall podium
In a day marked by Carlos Sainz's new setbacks, Sébastien Loeb started the second week of the Dakar rally perfectly.
The Dakar has resumed its rights for this second part of the rally. After a well-deserved rest day, the competitors set off this morning from Riyadh towards Haradh. Winner two days ago, Sébastien Loeb repeated his victory. Now credited with three stage wins since the start of this 2023 edition of the world’s largest rally-raid, the nine-time world rally champion takes the opportunity to climb to the third step of the overall podium.
Loeb takes advantage of the mechanical issues encountered by Henk Lategan. The Toyota driver, 63rd in this stage, loses over fifty minutes and falls to fourth place overall, three minutes behind the Frenchman’s BRX Hunter. The latter still has the potential to climb higher in the rankings. In addition to overtaking Lategan, Loeb also caught up with Lucas Moraes. The Brazilian driver, who has been a revelation in this rally, now only has a 22-minute lead over his teammate.
Cautious today, Nasser Al-Attiyah, although having lost just under ten minutes to the daily winner, sees his lead increase over his closest pursuer. With over one hour and twenty minutes advantage, the Qatari knows that victory is within reach if he avoids making mistakes, but he will still have to be cautious, especially if Loeb keeps pushing. With the challenging marathon stage coming up this weekend, anything can still happen.
On the fourth day, Matthias Ekström brought comfort to Audi. After several disastrous days, the four-ring brand finally returned to the top positions on a stage. But as nothing is spared for the former favorites of this edition, Carlos Sainz gave us a beautiful somersault just 6 kilometers in (video to be found below). Initially helicoptered to the hospital for examinations, the Madrilene eventually asked the helicopter driver to turn around and wait for his assistance truck next to his injured Audi. A surreal scene that will certainly go down in Dakar legend.
Classification Stage 9
| Concurrents | Team | Times / Gaps | |
| 1 | Loeb / Lurquin | Bahraïn Raid Xtreme | 03:07:24 |
| 2 | Zala / Fiuza | Teltonika Racing | +00:00:57 |
| 3 | Chicherit / Winocq | GCK Motorsport | +00:02:08 |
| 4 | Ekström / Bergkvist | Team Audi Sport | +00:05:11 |
| 5 | Dumas / Delfino | Rebellion Racing | +00:07:38 |
General ranking
| Concurrents | Team | Times / Gaps | |
| 1 | Al-Attiyah / Baumel | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 34:19:20 |
| 2 | Moraes / Gottschalk | Overdrive Racing | +01:21:57 |
| 3 | Loeb / Lurquin | Bahraïn Raid Xtreme | +01:43:08 |
| 4 | Lategan / Cummings | Toyota Gazoo Racing | +01:46:23 |
| 5 | De Villiers / Murphy | Toyota Gazoo Racing | +02:04:17 |
🎥 First footage of @CSainz_oficial and @LucasCruz74‘s crash, after only 6km in the special. 🚗#Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/se7SKV27YD
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 10, 2023
