RALLY DAKAR 2023

Nasser Al-Attiyah wins his fifth Dakar and is already looking at Peterhansel

Nasser Al-Attiyah is the owner and master of the Dakar. The Qatari and his co-driver, the Frenchman Mathieu Baumel, today sealed their fifth win, second in a row, at the Dammam finish line, in the toughest rally in the world.

The last stage did not have much history as both Al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb, the two indisputable references of the second week of the Dakar, took it easy, securing their first two positions. Thus, the victory went to Guerlain Chicherit's BRX, who beat Mattias Ekström's Audi (the Swede leaves the Dakar empty this year)

Al-Attiyah, five-time champion... Today they certified victory after completing the 8,500 kilometers of the Dakar 2023 route with an advantage of more than an hour over Sebastien Loeb (BRX) and his Toyota teammate, the Brazilian Lucas Moraes, who have completed the podium of the 45th edition of the Dakar.

As was the case in 2022, the Qatari has dominated the race with pleasure with his Toyota almost from start to finish. The 2023 Dakar began with Carlos Sainz at the helm, but since stage 3 Al-Attiyah has been the benchmark and, in fact, victory was practically assured already in the rest stage.

Second in the historical statistics... With this win, Al-Attiyah becomes the second most successful driver in the history of the Dakar in the car category, as he breaks the four-way tie with Ari Vatanen.

The Qatari now only has Monsieur Dakar ahead of him, Stephane Peterhansel, who has achieved eight of his fourteen car victories.

Spectacular Czech top 10...The one who has left his mark today on the way to Dammam has been Carlos Checa. The most outstanding pilot of the three that make up the Astara team has come down today with a spectacular tenth place in the stage.

"Today I told Marc [Sola, his co-pilot] that I was not going to brake, that I was going to discover what a MotoGP race was like," he said at the finish line with a big smile of satisfaction not only for today's partial result, but also for having finished the Dakar in its entirety, something that he did not achieve last year in his debut in the test.

Provisional classification of stage 14 of the Dakar in cars:

1. Guerlain Chicherit/Alex Winocq (BRX) 1h 09:24

2. Mattias Ekstrom/Emil Bergkvist (Audi) at 1:36

3. Sebastian Halpern/Bernardo Graue (Mini) at 1:53

4. Kuba Przygonski/Armand Monleón (Mini) at 3:08

5. Henk Lategan/Brett Cumings (Toyota) at 3:44

6. Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin (BRX) at 4:48

7. Yazeed Al-Rajhi/Dirk Von Zitzewitz (Toyota) at 5:08

8. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) at 5:41

9. Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (Toyota) at 6:09

10. Carlos Checa/Marc Sola (Astara) at 6:18

Provisional general car classification of the Dakar 2023

1. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) 45h 03:15

2. Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin (BRX) at 1h20:40

3. Lucas Moraes/Timo Gottschalk) at 1h 38:31

4. Giniel De Villiers/Dennis Murphy (Toyota) at 2h 31:12

5. Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (Toyota) at 2h 36:23

...

7. Juan Yacopini/Dani Oliveras (Toyota) at 4h 27:09

18. Jakub Przygonski/Armand Monleón (Mini) at 7:28:50

32. Carlos Checa/Marc Sola (Astara) at 9:52:28

by Enrique Naranjo (http://www.twitter.com/Quique_Naranjo)