By: Motorsport Media
Ha’il, Saudi Arabia – Dakar 2023 reached its quarter-distance mark after a somewhat less dramatic Day 4 as the legends of the sport fought it out for car victory.
Sebastien Loeb emerged victorious for the troubled Hunter team, mere seconds ahead of Stephane Peterhansel’s Audi, his teammate Carlos Sainz sr and Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s overall leader, Nasser Al Attiyah.
There was also a dice throughout the motorcycle Day 4, as Joan Barreda Bort beat Honda teammate Pablo Quintanilla to the win. Daniel Sanders continues to lead the bikes overall, while South African FK Husqvarna rider Charan Moore leads the no back-up service Malle Moto Original class, and his teammate, Mike Docherty, is a very close second among the two wheeler rookies.
Wednesday’s 425km loop around Ha’il took in a bit of everything, starting in the dunes before moving onto tracks and later returning to the sand. The Dakar giants fought it out up front, as Peterhansel and Edouard Boulanger’s Audi led early on from Loeb, Al Attiyah, and Sainz.
It was a tough morning for South African Century driver Mathieu Serradori, who picked up a heating problem and lost an hour before teammate Brian Baragwanath also stopped for almost 50 minutes. Things were even worse for Prodrive, as both Orlando Terranova’s and Vaidotas Zala’s Hunters retired.
The other two Hunters were, however, in the thick of it. Loeb passed Peterhansel’s petrol-electric Audi to lead at the final waypoint. Teammate Chicherit moved up to third from Sainz, but the second Hunter also hit trouble in the final sector, leaving Loeb to take the day in the team’s second stage win on the trot.
Loeb beat Peterhansel by 14 seconds, as Sainz pipped Al Attiyah for third. Al Rajhi was fifth from Lategan, Ekstrom, and Toyota Hilux trio Lucio Moraes, de Villiers and Eric van Loon.
All of which means Attiyah continues to lead Al Rajhi by 18 minutes overall, with Peterhansel mere seconds behind in third from Sainz, Lategan, Moraes, De Villiers and Ekstrom.
A big Day 4 bike dice too
On the bikes, Mason Klein moved ahead of Adrien van Beveren’s Honda and left him to fight with team-mates Pablo Quintanilla and Juan Barreda through to the mid-stage open section. Botswana rider Ross Branch sat in 10th behind overall leader Daniel Sanders, while Docherty was 30th and Moore 34th.
The top four fought it out as Barreda passed Quintanilla for the win in the dying stages. Skyler Howes, Toby Price, Van Beveren, Luciano Benavides, Kevin Benavides, and Sanders followed as Klein dropped back. Docherty rode home 25th and Moore 40th. Disaster struck for Hero as Branch ran out of fuel and Sebastien Bühler suffered an engine failure.
Overall, Sanders leads Howes by three-and-a-half minutes with Kevin Benavides and Barreda Bort both within four minutes of the leader in third and fourth. Price follows from Klein, Quintanilla, and Van Beveren. Docherty was provisionally 25th overall and sat a very close second among the rookies, while Moore in 33rd, still leads the Malle Moto Original Dakar no service class. Gregory was still running in 81st at the time of writing, Landman 95th, Wilken 105th and Branch 116th.
A short, but tough 373km stage of mainly sand and dunes, once again around Ha’il, follows on Thursday as Dakar 2023 reaches the one-third mark.