Dakar 2023, Stage 13 – Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin set a record

With a sixth consecutive stage victory achieved on the 2023 Dakar, Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin exceed the record held by Ari Vatanen since 1989.

Published on 14/01/2023 à 10:05

Medhi Casaurang

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Dakar 2023, Stage 13 – Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin set a record

The BRX Hunter T1+ sails over the Saudi dunes! © DPPI / G. Soldano

Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) greatly facilitate the task of the journalists present on this Dakar Rally 2023. The Franco-Belgian tandem, through its control of all the special stages contested in Saudi Arabia for almost a week, allows reporters to practically copy and paste the post-special reports!

Proof of this is the vice-world champions of rally-raid (W2RC) once again recorded the best time on this 13th and penultimate stage between Shaybah and Al-Hofuf, this Saturday January 14. One day after equaling the record for consecutive stage victories on a Dakar (5), here they are overtaking the greats Ari Vatanen and Bruno Berglund with this sixth scratch time in a row!

With a total of seven stage victories on this Dakar 2023, Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin are doing as well as Carlos Sainz in 2011. At the time, the Spaniard drove for Volkswagen and beat teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah to win the Touareg trophy.

There should not be such an idyllic scenario for the Alsatian. The BRX leader takes only five minutes from Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) who are firmly in control of the rally-raid with a 1h21' margin over Loeb-Lurquin before the final 136 km special scheduled for Sunday.

In the general classification, nothing is changing. Lucas Moraes and Timo Gottschalk (Toyota) are sailing towards the third step of the podium, ahead of the experienced Giniel de Villiers and Dennis Murphy (Toyota).

The French Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier (Century) can still vie for eighth or even seventh position. Han Wei (Hanwei), Juan Cruz Yacopini (Toyota) and the French crew are held together in just three minutes!

ALSO READ > “Zero errors, zero stalls, zero U-turns”, perfect day for Loeb at the Dakar

Dakar 2023 ranking – Stage 13:

General classification :

 

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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