Rally-Raid

Sébastien Loeb explains what he missed to win the Dakar in 2022

Before starting his 7th participation in the Dakar (December 31 - January 15), Sébastien Loeb looked back on the 2022 edition and his second place overall.

Published on 27/12/2022 à 12:58

Dorian Grangier

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Sébastien Loeb explains what he missed to win the Dakar in 2022

Sébastien Loeb finished 2nd in the Dakar in 2022 © Julien Delfosse / DPPI

Sébastien Loeb starting to know the song. In 2023, the nine-time champion of WRC will participate in rally Dakar for the 7th time in his career. The Alsatian is still in search of the Grail in the legendary rally-raid event, which will take place in Saudi Arabia this year from December 31 to January 15. If he came very close to victory in 2017 with a 2nd place (and only 5 minutes behind Peterhansel), Loeb also missed victory in 2022 with another 2nd place, this time behind Nasser Al-Attiyah . 

The Prodrive driver, in preparation for the next edition with his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin, returned to the last edition of the Dakar and his 2nd place overall, explaining the reasons for his defeat against the Qatari driver. “There was a little something missing, quite early in the rally actually, confided Sébastien Loeb. We had a technical problem which caused us to be delayed. Then afterwards, we fought behind Nasser [Al-Attiyah, winner of the 2022 Dakar] who had a great race with Mathieu [Baumel, his co-pilot]. He had the experience and a little gap that allowed them to do things cleanly, which is what they did. They made no mistakes until the end of the race. »

“We fought hard all the way and finished second. It's not bad, it's still a nice result, recognizes the W2RC world vice-champion. Second on the Dakar, we can't be disappointed but it was shaping up to be a good fight... We tried to keep the pace until the end but it wasn't enough. »

Victim of several problems during the 3rd stage – two punctures and a transmission problem – the Frenchman lost more than 28 minutes on his main opponent. In 2023, Sébastien Loeb will be in charge of revenge and aims for his first victory on the most famous rally-raid in the world.

ALSO READ > Sébastien Loeb: “I am quite confident for the Dakar”

Dorian Grangier

A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.

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