RALLY DAKAR 2024

Loeb's blow, which cuts Carlos Sainz by 10 minutes, a third of his advantage

The seventh stage of the Dakar 2024 has passed its sentence: victory will be decided in a head-to-head between Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb(image above). Two old colleagues and rivals from the WRC who, as in the old days, will compete for the prestigious toaureg trophy as if it were a World Championship rally: in the final six stages.

Today, in the 480 kilometers that separated Riyadh from Ad Dawadimi (the longest stage of the Dakar), the Frenchman won, who had to take risks... and boy did he do it.

Loeb recital...It didn't matter that the runway opened, because the nine-time world champion flew to Ad Dawadimi. He has no choice but to give it his all and push as hard as possible. Today he did well because, to begin with, he shaved 10:31 off Sainz, a third of the advantage that the Spaniard had over the Frenchman.

The Matador has taken the stage calmly, without taking risks and taking advantage of the cushion that the half hour he has over the nine-time champion allows him. A puncture was the biggest incident he had in the stage.

Only in the first kilometers, in a very complicated navigation area that ran between canyons, Loeb had a difficult scenario for his starting position. At the first crossing points he left himself three minutes, but then he progressed until he finished the day with a 7:06 advantage over Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón and 10:31 over Sainz, who at no time was able to get close to the Frenchman, who He started three minutes ahead.

Sainz leaves the longest stage of the Dakar with just 19 minutes ahead of Loeb who, in addition to the time he has taken from the leader today, manages to equalize the strategic position with Audi, which will no longer have two cards to play against him in the next days.

Also... Nasser Al-Attiyah has done his job by regaining a good starting place for tomorrow by finishing third (also faster than Sainz). A theoretically ideal position for Loeb, because the Qatari starts from behind and is only six minutes behind, so if he needs his help he will have it (if he keeps what he promised)... and quickly.

Ekström, KO...But the great coup of the day was the elimination of Mattias Ekström in the face of the final victory in the event. A serious failure in the left rear suspension knuckle stopped the Swede's Audi #207 for more than three hours.

Initially, Stéphane Peterhansel stopped to assist the Swedish driver, but the breakdown was of such magnitude that the Frenchman resumed driving without having resolved the problem of his teammate. Monsieur Dakar spent more than a quarter of an hour on this maneuver. Audi should have sought the same move with the Frenchman as Prodrive with Nasser, but tomorrow Sainz will not have his back as well covered as his rival.

Enrique Naranjo