2023 Dakar stage 10 took place from Haradh to Shaybah, in a part of Saudi Arabia called the Empty Quarter. Race director commented before the stage that there are several waypoints that will be very tricky to locate. The timed section was just 114 km, but there were over 500 km of liaison to contend with as well.

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Leading the Way

Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive Hunter) has netted a few stage wins during this year’s race, including stage nine. As a result the Frenchman was the first car to head out today. Loeb benefited from Henk Lategan’s mechanical troubles yesterday to get himself on the provisional podium. The nine-time WRC champ chirped “At this pace, we’ll be level with Nasser in six months”.

Race leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah said before the stage: We have a big gap now”, said the reigning champion. “I hope to finish and to win this Dakar.”

Click here to check out a gallery of images from the first week of the 2023 Dakar Rally.

Chasing Pack

Loeb led a trio of Prodrive Hunters today. Vaidotas Zala and Guerlain Chicherit shared the stage nine podium and the three crews will be chased hard by the pursuing pack of Hiluxes. Mattias Ekstrom is driving the sole remaining Audi in the race. The former DTM champion remains after his two teammates (former Dakar winners) Stephane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz both crashed out of the race. Click here to watch Sainz’s race-ending crash.

Žala’s challenge was halted due to a mechanical. The Lithuanian, who held the second fastest time at the first checkpoint ground to a halt at the 44-km mark. That effectively ruined his chances at a second successive podium.

In Charge

Loeb set the quickest times through the middle two of three checkpoints today. He seemed on a mission to add to his tally of stage wins. Ekstrom ran up with the front runners, as did Lucas Moraes (Overdrive Racing) in another great show of pace. Al-Attiyah was quick, but it seemed that is was also playing it a bit conservative. A four-minute blanket covered the top five cars with 40 km to go.

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Stage Winner

Loeb suffered no issues throughout the stage. He was first across the line, but had to wait for all his rivals to arrive at the end of the special. With all the fast crews over the line it was Loeb who was the quickest taking his second stage win in succession. Second for the day was Ekstrom ahead of Moraes. The day’s result did not really alter the overall rankings.

The BRX driver continues to surge up the standings and clawed almost six minutes back from Nasser Al Attiyah despite opening the way. Loeb said: “It was a good stage for us. No mistakes, no problems. Only dunes for more than 100 kilometres. It was quite long, quite demanding, but the feeling was good with the car. We were the first on the track, but we had the motorbike tracks, it was okay, no troubles.”

General classification after 2023 Dakar Stage 10

    1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 36 hr 13 min 37 sec
    2. Lucas Moraes (Overdrive Racing) +01 hr 21 min 34 sec
    3. Sebastien Loeb (BRX) +01 hr 37 min 23 sec
    4. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +01 hr 48 min 37 sec
    5. Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +02 hr 10min 56 sec
    6. Romain Dumas (Rebellion Racing) +02 hr 45 min 24 sec
    7. Martin Prokop (Orlen Benzina) +02 hr 50 min 02 sec
    8. Brian Baragwanath (CRT) +02 hr 56 min 28 sec
    9. Wei Han (Hanwei Motorsport) +03 hr 43 min 22 sec
    10. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) +04 hr 00 min 35 sec