Dakar Stage 7: Loeb wins again, slashes Sainz’ lead

The Bahrain Raid Xtreme team of Sébastien Loeb & Fabian Lurquin won today’s Dakar Rally 7th stage. They now move to second overall in the standings.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

It was Loeb’s third stage victory of the year with a margin of 7m06s over Toyota’s Lucas Moraes.

Nasser Al-Attiyah, passed event leader Carlos Sainz Sr. just before the finish line to take a solid third in his Prodrive Hunter, 9m47s behind Loeb.

Dakar Bikes – Cornejo makes it a hat-trick 

The second week of the Dakar 2024 was kicked off with José Ignacio Cornejo cementing his status as one of the favorites for the top step in Yanbu as he put in a flawless ride.

The Monster Energy Honda Team riders were refreshed after a rest day in Riyadh and if they were expecting an easier return on stage seven then the organizers had other plans. The 483 km special was going to feature some perplexing navigation on small winding gravel tracks around eye-catching canyons, off-piste wadis, a couple of dune sections and adding to this was a total 390 km of liaison as they headed to Al Duwadimi.

Cornejo went into this final week just out of the podium positions, his teammate Adrien Van Beveren had taken the final spot after his faultless 48 Hour Chrono win so the Chilean’s aim was to get back in the hunt.  In spite of a small fall he carved out over a three minute gap to reigning World Rally-Raid champion Luciano Benavides.  Achieving his goal he is now back into third, just six minutes 48 seconds off leader Ricky Brabec.

As the 2020 Dakar Rally winner and with vast experience in the world of rally-raid,  Brabec has been consistent since the start in AlUla where he’s been in the top three of the overall standings before nabbing the top spot after the 48 Hour Chrono on Friday. Catching teammate Adrien Van Beveren and  Toby Price during the stage today, he joined in for a share of the bonuses gaining nearly four minutes. His fifth place finish was just enough to keep him at the top of the overall standings by the narrowest of margins to  Ross Branch.  An astonishing single second separates them after 32 hours of rallying!

First one out onto the stage, Adrien Van Beveren was always going to find it a tough ask to not lose time today. After conquering the dunes at the end of last week, a change of terrain and complicated navigation saw him end the day in a very frustrating ninth.  Despite the stage six winner hoovering up over five minutes in bonuses, the gap to Brabec in the overall standings has increased to over fourteen minutes and has dropped him off the podium.  A better starting position tomorrow should help to rectify things.

Dakar Cars Stage 7 Results

Dakar Cars Overall Ranking

Dakar Bikes Stage 7 Results

Dakar Bikes Overall Ranking