Dakar, Stage 2: Loeb equals Saby and Schlesser, Al-Attiyah in ambush

He had been waiting for this for almost three years. Sebastian Loeb had not set a scratch time on the Dakar since the last edition organized in South America in 2019. At the time, he was racing on a Peugeot 3008 DKR private and its co-driver was named Daniel Elena.

🏁 Stage 2 🚗

???? @SebastienLoeb and Fabian Lurquin win the stage! @AlAttiyahN and @CSainz_oficial are 2nd and 3rd.
# Dakar2022 pic.twitter.com/Ih8s8a1uZ2

- DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 3, 2022

This Monday, January 3, the Alsatian is playing within the English team Bahrain Raid Xtreme managed by Prodrive, and the Belgian Fabian Lurquin recites the notes from the road book to him. The navigator did a no-nonsense job between Ha'il and Al Qaisumah, finish of the second stage (338 km of special).

With this performance, Sébastien Loeb secured a 15th stage victory on the rally-raid, enough to match two French legends of the test of time of the original Paris-Dakar in North Africa: Bruno Saby and Jean-Louis Schlesser. As an indication, the record is held by Ari Vatanen (50 victories) just ahead of Stéphane Peterhansel (48).

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Vainqueur grâce à un coup de navigation exceptionnel de Mathieu Baumel la veille, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) a eu la tâche d’ouvrir la route. Le Qatari s’attendait à concéder du terrain et ce fut le cas (+3’38’’). Le deuxième de l’édition 2021 garde la tête du classement général pour 9’16 ».

🔴 Etape 2
⏱ Classement spéciale : P1 💥
🏆 Classement général : P2
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First special victory with @BRaidXtreme 💪🏻 C’est assez rare de dire cela sur le @dakar mais c’était une spéciale parfaite et sur cette course, il faut prendre tout ce qu’il y a à prendre 🙏🏼 #BRX pic.twitter.com/anLeJOwGDO

- Sébastien Loeb (@SebastienLoeb) January 3, 2022

Back in the depths of the ranking, the Audi RS Q e-tron hybrids Carlos Sainz-Lucas Cruz and Stéphane Peterhansel-Édouard Boulanger have regained strength. The Spaniards finished on the last step of the podium of the day in front of their French teammates. Mattias Ekström-Emil Bergkvist are 9th.

On the modified SSV side (T3), the young Seth Quintero (19 years old) dominated his subject, but a serious mechanical problem 30 kilometers from the finish forced him to wait for his assistance truck. His hopes of final victory disappear.

Stage success therefore seems promised to the Belgian rookie Guillaume de Mévius (Overdrive), in the lead at km 1999. Winners of the World Cup last year, Cristina Gutiérrez and François Cazalet (Overdrive) concede around twenty minutes.

Stage classification:

General ranking can be found here.