Rally-Raid

Back at the foot of the podium, can Sébastien Loeb win the 2023 Dakar?

Sébastien Loeb ends the first week of the Dakar 2023 with 2 stage victories but a significant delay on leader Nasser Al-Attiyah. Is a fantastic comeback on the cards in the second week? This would be unheard of.

Published on 08/01/2023 à 17:51

Medhi Casaurang

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Back at the foot of the podium, can Sébastien Loeb win the 2023 Dakar?

Sébastien Loeb (BRX) remains relaxed in the middle of this Dakar 2023. © DPPI / Julien Delfosse

Le Dakar Rally 2023 finished its first half this Sunday, January 8 on the outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. A question quietly traveled through the corridors of the international press room: Sébastien's second stage victory Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) on this rally-raid heralds a resounding comeback from the Franco-Belgian duo?

“We are fourth overall, that’s not so bad considering our struggles in the first few days,” declared the rally star. We find ourselves in the fight for a podium, it's not so bad. There are six stages left and a lot of things can happen, we'll see. »

ALSO READ > Dakar 2023, Stage 8: Sébastien Loeb attacks and returns to the podium match

Indeed, the vice-world champions of rally raid (W2RC) spent most of their week chasing the time lost on the leaders of the competition, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota). Victims of three punctures in the second stage, Loeb-Lurquin were rejected 1h21 behind the leaders, in 31st place.

Recognizing at that time a total disappearance of the chances of final victory, the Alsatian has since set himself the objective of collecting as many special victories as possible, carrying points in W2RC. Winner of the fourth special, Sébastien Loeb did it again in the eighth stage.

His rise in the hierarchy is obvious. This Sunday evening, Sébastien Loeb climbed to the foot of the provisional podium, behind the Toyota Hilux trio composed of Nasser Al-Attiyah, Henk Lategan and Lucas Moraes. From fourth to first place, the margin doesn't seem that impressive.

However, despite his attacking driving, the winner of Monte-Carlo 2022 lost a few tens of minutes on Al-Attiyah-Baumel (1h52') due to various problems relating to the reliability of the 4×4 Hunter T1+ built by Prodrive.

If first place seems very far away, this is less the case for places of honor. Sébastien Loeb has Argentine debutant Lucas Moraes in his sights (+32 minutes) while Henk Lategan, who has never been so well placed in three participations in the Dakar, is ahead of him by 49 minutes.

An almost insurmountable delay on a regular basis

On a Dakar, the unexpected is always possible, as we saw clearly with the abandonment of Stéphane Peterhansel, despite being an expert in the discipline, and the accident of Carlos Sainz in the same place as his colleague from Audi. Nasser Al-Attiyah knows he must apply a wait-and-see tactic thanks to his comfortable lead, but will the Qatari have strong enough nerves to curb his offensive nature? This Sunday, rather than letting it slip away, the four-time winner of the Dakar set a fairly high pace, with the 2nd best time at 2'11'' from Loeb-Lurquin.

Even if the Toyota Hilux is the most reliable T1+ of the lot, damage can still occur. Last Friday, the power steering pump of the Japanese 4×4 broke 40 km from the finish line. “We ended up without power steering with oil leaking, but it was OK” reassured Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Sébastien Loeb kills the suspense. He is not the one who will decide the outcome of the 2023 Dakar. “On a regular basis, against Nasser, no, I have no chance of winning”, he declared upon his arrival at the bivouac on Sunday evening. “But there were problems on all sides. But hey, not so much at Toyota. The gap with Nasser is what we lose on the second special. That's how it is, we'll see, we'll keep rolling. The fate is not in my hands. In any case we will continue to fight to at least try to get on the podium. »

The bet of returning to the podium seems much more realistic than the scenario of a magnificent comeback to victory. The last driver to have won it from 4th place on the rest day was Jutta Kleinschmidt (Mitsubishi) in 2001, who had "only" 45'22'' to make up the lead in the race. The German was in third position two days from the finish on the shores of Lake Rose in Dakar (Senegal), before an incredible trick took out Jean-Louis Schlesser and Hiroshi Masuoka.

ALSO READ > Jutta Kleinschmidt: “I grew up telling myself that anything was possible for a woman”

A red and yellow car which overtakes the leader at the end of the Dakar, this happened in 2001. © DPPI / Gigi Soldano

Medhi Casaurang

Passionate about the history of motorsport across all disciplines, I learned to read thanks to AUTOhebdo. At least that's what my parents tell everyone when they see my name inside!

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