Frenchman Sébastien Loeb and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin (Hunter) have won the fourth stage of the cars in the Dakar. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) finished second and remains the leader. For Loeb it is his first victory in this edition, his 24th in his Dakar career.
The main victim of the stage was Seth Quintero (Toyota). After 36 km, the official Toyota driver followed within five seconds of an unleashed Nasser Al-Attiyah (Hunter), who was the fastest at that time. But after 68 km Quintero had to stop with a technical problem. It is not yet known what exactly is wrong and whether Quintero can continue.
Al-Attiyah did not let it bother him. The Qatari had the fastest time at every intermediate point and seemed to win his first stage of this Dakar. But that was without counting Al-Rajhi, who was fourteen seconds faster at the finish. But Al-Rajhi would not win this stage either. Loeb, who started 23rd after his punctures, pitted 1’08” off the top time. After Mattias Ekström, Guillaume de Mévius, Stéphane Peterhansel and Lucas Moraes, Loeb is the fifth different winner in as many stages.
The second shortest stage had a particularly exciting race. Carlos Sainz (Audi) finished fifth, Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi) sixth. Guillaume de Mévius finished seventh at 7’21”.
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In the standings, Al-Rajhi increases his lead over Sainz to 4’29”. After a rough start, Al-Attiyah has moved up to third place, at 11’03”. Thanks to his stage win, Loeb is now sixth, at 23’50”. The Mévius again makes its appearance in the top ten. He is tenth with a gap of 40’43”.
The shortest Dakar stage will be held on Wednesday. Between Al-Hofuf and Shubaytah, 118 competitive kilometers await the participants. The connecting stage is particularly long at 644 km.