Dakar: Has Nasser Al-Attiyah already won a race?

Facts : With only four stages remaining on this Dakar 2022 before the final arrival in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) this Friday, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) lead the debates with a lead of 37'58 '' on Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (BRX). Enough for the Qatari to pocket a fourth success on the most famous of rally-raids?

YES, by Fabien Gérard

We are attacking the second week of this Dakar 2022, a real certainty this event flies like the wind and this despite all the controversies and racing events which took place during this new edition. Nasser Al-Attiyah is still the leader of the event four days from the finish and everything suggests that the Qatari and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel are heading towards another victory on the most difficult of rally raids. The crew is in perfect command of their subject. Navigation being a key issue in this 2022 edition, I recognize that Mathieu Baumel has worked some miracles when we see how much the Hilux's opponents were able to manage in the different so-called navigation specials. 

The driving of the three-time Dakar winner is also perfectly adapted to the track conditions. When he knows that he is not able to fight with drivers faster than him, Al-Attiyah now knows how to slow down in order to preserve his equipment. But wasn't the race decided in the first special stages of this edition? In the first week, Nasser won twice and reached the podium (P2). After 4 days of racing, he already has a 38-minute lead over Loeb/Lurquin. Certainly there were days without, but in absolute terms, the lead he gained allowed him to keep a cool head. And knock out his opponents.  

Be careful, this does not mean that Nasser and Mathieu cannot scare each other. The proof, the mechanical problems this Monday are there to remind the Toyota crew that nothing should be neglected on the Dakar. Is Nasser Al-Attiyah under pressure from Sébastien Loeb who is having a superb second week of racing? It's not so obvious, as the Qatari's lead is comfortable. The nature of the modern Dakar is such that making up for such a delay seems an almost impossible mission. After the mechanical alert for special 8, the Hilux will start fresh for the last three days of competition. Nasser can afford to let his adversaries take risks and manage his time savings. A fourth victory seems more possible, but Nasser Al-Attiyah, far too modest, will never recognize it before crossing the finish line in Jeddah next Sunday. 

Nasser Al-Attiyah is the comfortable leader of the Dakar. © Florent Gooden / DPPI

NO, by Medhi Casaurang-Vergez

Pierre Lartigue, three-time winner of the African Paris-Dakar, used to say “Dakar is still far away.” The former Citroën driver never showed false modesty or political correctness because he knew well that the Dakar chose its stars, as the ordeal was so tough, sometimes up to three weeks of effort. From now on, the rally-raid only has 12 stages in the Middle East, but the harshness of the competition always takes its toll on the men and their machines.

Certainly, the Qatari pilot and his French navigator have never stopped leading the debates since the Prologue on January 1, but they have brand new equipment. And who says new, sometimes says lack of reliability, at least a lack of knowledge regarding certain situations which could not be reviewed during private tests. In fact, the leaders' mount has never been entered in the race before this Dakar, a bold choice!

As proof, we want the serious alert which affected not one, but two Toyota Hilux T1+ during the ninth stage, Monday. “ We realized during the connection that there was something strange, admits the French co-pilot. Everything was working fine though, so we didn't know what it was. We started the special and 20 kilometers later we had the temperature alarm.

We really reduced the pace knowing that we couldn't do much about this transmission problem which was causing us to drive in two-wheel drive mode. We managed to pass all the dunes like this, which is just miraculous. At neutralization, after 200 kilometers, we were only 9'20" behind Séb (Sébastien Loeb. Editor’s note) and we were relieved. We did well, but you always have to be careful because anything can happen, especially with mechanics. »

If Al-Attiyah-Baumel did well, this is not the case for Lucio Alvarez-Armand Monleon. The Argentines were in a good fourth place overall for their return to a Dakar for four years, but the faulty differential caused them to lose almost four hours! This damage served as a free warning and the race became less clear than we wanted to believe.

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