Al-Attiyah and Baumel win the 2022 Dakar, Loeb-Lurquin second

The 12th and final stage of this Dakar 2022 presented only limited sporting interest. The shortest special of this rally-raid (164 km entre Bisha et Djeddah en Arabie saoudite) était également la plus simple à négocier, sans l’ombre d’une dune à avaler pour les rescapés. Comme l’on pouvait s’y attendre le secteur chronométré de ce vendredi 14 janvier n’a guère pesé dans le classement général. Parti avec une confortable marge d’une demi-heure, Nasser Al-Attiyah et Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) ont déroulé sans problème pour enregistrer une victoire finale incontestée.

The Qatari thus won his fourth Dakar (2011, 2015, 2019, 2022), the very first with the Toyota Hilux in T1+ version (bi-turbo petrol V6, enlarged suspensions and tires). The smiling driver joins no more and no less than the legendary Ari Vatanen on the list of winners of the most famous rally-raid. The Finn then won with Peugeot (1987, 1989, 1990) then Citroën (1991).

Despite a constant attack following the rest day, Sébastien Loeb-Fabian Lurquin (BRX) admit defeat. The nine-time world rally champion (WRC), slowed down in the first week by a transmission problem as well as a handful of navigation errors, however experienced one of his cleanest Dakars since his arrival in the discipline in 2016 and achieved two stage successes .

Matured over the years, event local Yazeed Al-Rajhi associated with Michael Orr (Toyota) was right to preserve the proven naturally aspirated V8 in the new Hilux T1+ chassis. The Saudi finished for the first time on the podium in eight appearances.

The first French independent crew, Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier (Century) fought with their weapons more modest than the competition. The French finished in a convincing 8th place overall, again this is the best result for this crew on a Dakar, tied with the 2020 edition.

The French are ahead of the first Audi RS Q e-tron hybrid, driven by the most inexperienced crew of the German team: Mattias Ekström-Emil Bergkvist. The Swedes were more spared from the horrors of mechanics than their colleagues Carlos Sainz-Lucas Cruz and Stéphane Peterhansel-Édouard Boulanger.

“Monsieur Dakar” narrowly missed equaling the Auto scratch time record held by Ari Vatanen (50) on this final special. The Frenchman should in fact be beaten by a handful of seconds by the South Africans Henk Lategan-Brett Cummings (Toyota), who won a second special at only 27 years old.

As for the modified SSVs (T3), success should go to the Chileans Francisco Lopez-Juan-Pablo Latrach (Can-Am). Thanks to their extreme consistency (no scratch times but constantly in the top 4 except once), “Chaleco” Lopez took the lead from the second stage and never left it again. The ex-biker had already won the SSV in 2019.

He is ahead of rookie Sebastian Eriksson associated with Wouter Rosegaar (Can-Am). The winners of the Specialty World Cup in 2021, Cristina Gutiérrez and François Cazalet (Overdrive) complete the podium.

Find out in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, on sale Monday evening digitally and Wednesday on newsstands, analysis of the Dakar 2022 by our special correspondent.

Stage classification:

Final general classification:

Complete general ranking

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