Victory of Benavidez and al-Attiyah, Loeb’s record: what to remember from Dakar-2023

Dakar 2023 is over. And, unlike usual, the tension was tense until the last kilometers, especially in the motorcycle category. After two weeks of racing Argentinian Kevin Benavidez (Red Bull KTM Factory rider) is 43 seconds ahead of his teammate Aussie Toby Price at the finish line this Sunday in Dammam after almost 45 hours of racing and over 8000 km of driving. In cars, Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) won his fifth title and defeated Sebastian Loeb, winner of seven stages, including six in a row.

In a particularly tense edition, marked by the withdrawal of title holder Briton Sam Sunderland from the first leg on January 1, Benavidez started this Sunday with 12 seconds to start the last leg of his opponent and teammate. The 34-year-old won the final 136 km race between Al-Hofuf and Damman and was 55 seconds ahead of Price.

Already winning in 2021, the eldest of the Benavidez brothers (Luciano, his younger brother finished in 6th place) caught up at the very end of the race, winning the last two stages. During the penultimate one, en route to the Puck, he managed to turn the tide when he cleared 23′10″ at the bedside of Mathias Wakner, his teammate and 2018 winner, who also dropped out of the helicopter event before winning the special after recovering his layup.

The native of Salta, in northwest Argentina, excelled on his debut in the famous 2016 rally with a fourth-place finish before climbing to the second step of the podium in the 2018 race, the penultimate one contested in South America. Two years ago he was the first South American to win the Dakar and now has seven stage victories in seven races.

This 2023 edition was a record. If Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) has won three stages, it is above all that he won his fifth title after 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2022, which put him only 2nd on the list behind Stefan Peterhansel (8) and ahead of the Finn Ari Vatanena. Leading from stage three, the 52-year-old, blood prince and real star in his country, is 20 minutes ahead of Stefan Peterhansel (Audi) from the start and 33 minutes ahead of Spaniard Carlos Sainz Sr. before suggesting a boulevard after the departure of the two main rivals, respectively, on January 6 and 10.

Until the very end, Sebastien Loeb will do everything in his Prodrive to win his first trophy in the sand dunes. Like last year, the nine-time WRC World Champion finished 2nd, but we will especially remember his incredible run of consecutive stage wins, 6 between 8th and 13th! And again, the first Alsatian in the history of rally raids, overtaking a certain … Ari Vatanen! Loeb and his teammate, Belgian Fabian Lürken, finished 1 hour 20 minutes and 49 minutes from the winner but scored 35 points at the 2023 World Championships, whose first leg was Dakar.

Finally, note the coronation of Frenchman Alexandre Giroud in the ATV category. Already titled in 2022, the native of Grenoble won in the prologue then during the first four stages: “We just accomplished a feat, it was not won in advance, you had to be strong, the specialists were long. It was a crazy Dakar,” the pilot reacted upon arrival in Damman.