Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Saturday, Jul 05, 2025

Al-Attiyah extends lead as Loeb takes Dakar 2023 Stage 4 win

Nasser Al-Attiyah has opened up his Dakar Rally lead to over 18 minutes, while Sebastien Loeb fought back from a nightmare start to the event to win stage 4.
Loeb gave Bahrain Raid Xtreme a second successive stage victory in the Dakar Rally Wednesday after a spectacular battle in Saudi Arabia with the event’s most prolific winner.

Loeb, whose overall victory hopes have been ruined by a spate of punctures and Tuesday’s rear suspension failure, produced a superb drive alongside Fabian Lurquin in their BRX Prodrive Hunter to edge out Stephane Peterhansel’s Audi by 13 seconds on the 425km fourth stage.

Dakar legend Peterhansel led across the opening 282km of Wednesday’s 425km special, finding better speed and rhythm with his Audi RS Q e-tron E2 over the sand and dune terrain after heavy rain on Tuesday, but he was reeled in by Loeb over the gravel and rocky landscape that ended the stage.

The nine-time World Rally champion officially took the lead on the stage at the 327km waypoint, which the Bahrain Raid Xtreme driver held on to at the finish by just 13 seconds from Peterhansel. It marks Loeb’s 17th career Dakar Rally stage win and his first at the 2023 event.

However, Loeb still remains far from the overall as Al-Attiyah consolidated his early advantage with a solid run to fourth place on the stage, just behind Carlos Sainz Sr.

It means the defending Dakar Rally champion was able to add almost five minutes on to his overall lead against nearest challenger Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who finished the stage in fifth, to see his lead balloon to 18m18s at the end of stage 4.

Even though he missed out on the stage victory, Peterhansel’s pace was enough to close up to Al-Rajhi, with the French driver in third overall but just 34s behind the Overdrive-run Toyota Hilux driver.

Sainz’s all-out attack has pushed him back up the leaderboard into fourth, albeit over half an hour off leader Al-Attiyah following the Audi driver’s mechanical woes and punctures on Tuesday’s stage.

Toyota’s Henk Lategan is up to fifth overall after a tough day for car rookie Simon Vitse, as the MD Rally driver dropped out of the top 10.

Fellow rookie Lucas Moraes duly profited to move into sixth place for Overdrive, just two seconds behind Lategan and sandwiched between another Toyota driver in Giniel de Villiers in seventh.

Mattias Ekstrom, still feeling the effect of a 15-minute penalty for missing a waypoint on the first stage, is exactly 50 minutes off the leaders in eighth place for Audi.

Orlen Benzina’s Martin Prokop and Overdrive’s Erik van Loon round out the top 10 on the overall classification, both over an hour off the leaders.

Starting and finishing in Hail, the stage presented a classic battle between nine-time World Rally Champion Loeb and 14-time Dakar winner Peterhansel. Loeb’s winning margin could have been much greater, as he was without power steering towards the end of the stage, and lost about ten minutes.

Loeb’s win, following second place on Monday, lifted him to provisional 14th overall, but more significantly brought him maximum points on the day towards his World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) bid with BRX.

Orlando Terranova, third fastest Tuesday in his BRX Prodrive Hunter with Alex Haro, made his way back to the bivouac after 10km because of back pains which returned following a hard landing 24 hours earlier.

The Argentinian had his fourth and fifth vertebrae fused ten years ago as a result of a bike injury on the Dakar. Feeling pain in the same area, he decided a medical check-up was needed. After an X-ray at the bivouac, he was resting and was consulting his physio before making a decision on resuming tomorrow.

After the rain which flooded parts of the route Tuesday and shortened proceedings, Wednesday’s stage sent the cars through an opening 100km stretch of dunes before switching to tracks that presented navigational challenges on the return to Hail.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
Qatar Airways Clears Backlog of Passengers Following Missile Threats
Iran's Parliament Votes to Suspend Cooperation with Nuclear Watchdog
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
NATO Leaders Endorse Plan for Increased Defence Spending
U.S. Crude Oil Prices Drop Below $65 Amid Market Volatility
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Oman Set to Introduce Personal Income Tax, First in Gulf
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Trump Praises Iran’s ‘Very Weak’ Response After U.S. Strikes and Presses Israel to Pursue Peace
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
G7 Leaders Fail to Reach Consensus on Key Global Issues
Mass exodus in Tehran as millions try to flee following Trump’s evacuation order
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
Energy Infrastructure Becomes War Zone in Middle East
Iran Conducts Ballistic Missile Launches Amid Heightened Tensions with Israel
Iran Signals Openness to Nuclear Negotiations Amid Ongoing Regional Tensions
Shock Within Iran’s Leadership: Khamenei’s Failed Plan to Launch 1,000 Missiles Against Israel
UK Deploys Jets to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi Urges Overthrow of Khamenei Regime
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Iran Launches Extensive Missile Attack on Israel Following Israeli Strikes on Nuclear Sites
Israel Issues Ultimatum to Iran Over Potential Retaliation and Nuclear Facilities
×