2023 Dakar stage 14 was the final of this year’s race. The stage took place from Al-Hofuf to Damman. The timed section was a short-ish 136 km followed by a 281 km liaison that took all the remaining competitors to the podium ceremony.

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Fine Form

Sebastien Loeb (BRX Hunter) had a phenomenal week leading up to the final day. He took six wins on the trot and seven on the 2023 edition of the Dakar. It would have been brave to bet against him taking another before the event ended. Loeb was hardly challenged as those around him took a more cautious approach. Said the race leader Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) yesterday: “What is really important to me is winning the Dakar. The race was great for us, now we just need to bring the title home.”

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Fast Chargers

Despite Loeb’s fine form there were a number of teams that were keen to bag a stage win before the race ended. Henk Lategan (TGR), Mattias Ekstrom (Audi Sport) and Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive Hunter) topped the timesheets at various points in the stage.

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Stage Winner

Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive Hunter) showed that he is a force to be reckoned with by setting the quickest time of the stage. At the time of writing Mattias Ekstrom was shown as second ahead of Sebastian Halpern. Henk Lategan and Giniel de Villiers were fifth and sixth. Race leader Al-Attiyah was just outside the top ten.

Race Winner

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel have successfully defended their 2022 title by taking the 2023 race as well. The Qatari now has five Dakar wins to his name. He pulls ahead of Ari Vatanen in the all-time classification, with only Stéphane Peterhansel (eight wins) above him.

Second place in the overall classification went to Sebastien Loeb, who has yet to win this gruelling race. Although, he has shown he has the pace to do so, should the luck go his way. Brazilian Lucas Moraes finished third in only the second event he has competed on sand. Said the Dakar rookie “It was important for the rally community in Brazil because it had never happened before. I’m going to celebrate with all the Brazilian photographers. I don’t have any other Dakar to compare, but I heard this one was very tough.”

Local is Lekker

The South African contingent fared well. 2009 winner Giniel de Villiers finished fourth ahead of his teammate Henk Lategan. Including Moraes that makes it four SA-built Toyota Hiluxes in the top five. There were several other South African-built machines in the field (including the Century Racing buggies) and countless competitors.

Audi had a race that it would rather forget. The German automaker had targetted, at very least, a podium at their second attempt. However, experienced former winners, Peterhansel and Carlo Sainz both crashed out of the race. That left relative newcomer Mattias Ekstrom to carry the baton to the end. The former DTM champ did a good job, earning a few podiums along the way.

General classification after 2023 Dakar Stage 14

  1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 45 hr 03 min 15 sec
  2. Sebastien Loeb (BRX) +01 hr 20 min 49 sec
  3. Lucas Moraes (Overdrive Racing) +01 hr 38 min 31 sec
  4. Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +02 hr 29 min 12 sec
  5. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +02 hr 36 min 23 sec
  6. Martin Prokop (Orlen Benzina) +03 hr 40 min 44 sec
  7. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) +04 hr 27 min 09 sec
  8. Wei Han (Hanwei Motorsport) +04 hr 29 min 21 sec
  9. Sebastian Halpern (X-Raid Mini) +04 hr 42 min 38 sec
  10. Guerlain Chicherit (Prodrive Hunter) +05 hr 22 min 10 sec