Dakar Stage 7: Second win of the year for Loeb

Sébastien Loeb claimed today’s special and gained over five minutes from Nasser Al-Attiyah in the fight for the overall.

The Frenchman’s sixteenth career win makes him the tenth most prolific stage winner of all time, right behind Giniel De Villiers with seventeen. Yazeed Al-Rajhi finished on the bottom step of the stage podium.

Loeb led pretty much all the way in this Stage.

#211 Loeb Sebastien (fra), Lurquin Fabian (bel), Bahrain Raid Xtreme, BRX Prodrive Hunter T1+, Auto FIA T1/T2, W2RC, action during the Dakar Rally 2022 around Riyadh, 2022 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Photo Eric Vargiolu / DPPI

Giniel De Villiers, who moved back within a minute of Sébastien Loeb after his 5-hour penalty was rescinded on Friday evening, was been hit by a mechanical 198 km into today’s special.

Teammate Henk Lategan rushed to his rescue, but the whole fracas has set De Villiers back almost an hour. What a disaster!

Stage 7 Car Results – Top 10

Pos No. Driver/Navigator Team Time Gap
1 211 S. Loeb (Fra)/F. Lurquin (Bel) Bahrain Raid Xtreme 03:09:32 0:00:00
2 201 N. Al-Attiyah (Qat)/M. Baumel (And) Toyota Gazoo Racing 03:14:58 0:05:26
3 202 C. Sainz (Esp)/L. Cruz (Esp) Team Audi Sport 03:17:15 0:07:43
4 200 S. Peterhansel (Fra)/E. Boulanger (Fra) Team Audi Sport 03:19:12 0:09:40
5 205 Y. Al Rajhi (Sau)/M. Orr (Gbr) Overdrive Toyota 03:19:35 0:10:03
6 217 B. Ten Brinke (Nld)/S. Delaunay (Fra) Overdrive Toyota 03:22:26 0:12:54
7 222 L. Alvarez (Arg)/A. Monleon (Esp) Overdrive Toyota 03:23:09 0:13:37
8 224 M. Ekstrom (Swe)/E. Bergkvist (Swe) Team Audi Sport 03:24:14 0:14:42
9 204 N. Roma (Esp)/A. Haro Bravo (Esp) Bahrain Raid Xtreme 03:25:22 0:15:50
10 208 V. Vasilyev (Raf)/O. Uperenko (Lva) Vrt Team 03:27:37 0:18:05

Overall Car Standings after Stage 7

Pos No. Driver/Navigator Team Time Gap
1 201 N. Al-Attiyah (Qat)/M. Baumel (And) Toyota Gazoo Racing 23:52:22 0:00:00
2 211 S. Loeb (Fra)/F. Lurquin (Bel) Bahrain Raid Xtreme 24:37:21 0:44:59
3 205 Y. Al Rajhi (Sau)/M. Orr (Gbr) Overdrive Toyota 24:45:53 0:53:31
4 222 L. Alvarez (Arg)/A. Monleon (Esp) Overdrive Toyota 25:07:31 1:15:09
5 203 J. Przygonski (Pol)/T. Gottschalk (Deu) X-Raid Mini Jcw Team 25:22:26 1:30:04
6 221 O. Terranova (Arg)/D. Oliveras Carreras (Esp) Bahrain Raid Xtreme 25:29:17 1:36:55
7 208 V. Vasilyev (Raf)/O. Uperenko (Lva) Vrt Team 25:32:09 1:39:47
8 209 M. Prokop (Cze)/V. Chytka (Cze) Benzina Orlen Team 25:37:10 1:44:48
9 223 S. Halpern (Arg)/B. Graue (Arg) X-Raid Mini Jcw Team 25:50:46 1:58:24
10 234 V. Zala (Ltu)/P. Fiuza (Prt) Teltonika Racing 26:21:13 2:28:51