While Stage Seven at the 2023 Dakar Rally was cancelled for bikes and quads, there was no break for the competitors on four wheels as cars, trucks and side-by-sides departed Riyadh for Al Duwadimi. Adding to the challenge of the 333km route was time-limited assistance at the finish line before the convoy proceeded to a marathon bivouac.
There was a third T4 stage win of the rally for Rokas Baciuška of the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team. The 23-year-old Lithuanian and his co-driver Oriol Mena now find themselves exactly where they want to be, at the summit of the overall T4 rankings.
« A fast and interesting stage; many straights, dunes and a variety of roads. I like this kind of rally stage. » – Rokas Baciuška
Joining Baciuška in making it a hat-trick of stage wins was Mitch Guthrie Jr., his achievements coming in the T3 class. Guthrie Jr. and co-driver Kellon Walch are representing the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich in a T3-M by MCE5 vehicle.
« Today’s stage had a little bit of everything so that was cool. We started near the back of the pack so we were able to chase some cars down. » – Mitch Guthrie Jr.
Guthrie Jr. took the stage win after some tight racing against team-mates Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz and race leaders Guillaume De Mevius/François Cazalet.
« The Can-Am did absolutely amazing today and we made up some time on the top two guys. » – Seth Quintero
De Mevius now leads the overall T3 race by 8m29s from the Can-Am of AJ Jones/Gustavo Gugelmin. Quintero is just over an hour behind De Mevius and now has seven stages left to reel him in.
Also in the T3 race, Ignacio Casale and co-driver Alvaro Leon enjoyed their best day of the rally so far as they finished today’s stage fifth. Three-time quad race winner Casale looks set to push on in the rally’s second week.
« We were pushing with the top drivers all day. We had lots of fun on the stage and hopefully tomorrow will be the same. » – Ignacio Casale
There’s no change at the front of the T1 car race with Nasser Al-Attiyah still on course for a fifth Dakar title. The Toyota man and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel have an advantage of more than an hour over their closest competitor.
« We were really pushing a lot from the beginning. We opened all the way today. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
Dakar Rally rookie Lucas Moraes and his co-driver Timo Gottschalk still hold third place overall in the car contest. Two places back from them, Sébastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin are chasing down a podium place in their BRX Hunter.
« Without the motorbikes in front we knew it would be very tricky to find the road today. » – Sébastien Loeb
It’s been a tough first week of this Dakar for Kuba Przygoński and co-driver Armand Monleon in the MINI John Cooper Works Plus. Stage Seven also presented challenges for the pair of former bikers.
« It was quite tricky for us today because after just 15km we lost our right-rear driveshaft. So for the rest of the stage we had three-wheel drive! » – Kuba Przygoński
Now just one stage away from reaching the midway Rest Day are Laia Sanz and co-driver Maurizio Gerini. A remarkable repair job on Stage Five allowed them to reach the finish of the stage. This means that Sanz maintains her record of completing every stage of all 13 editions of the Dakar that she has raced.
« It was another tough day. We expected this after what happened to us on Stage Five set us so far back in the starting order. We’re happy to have reached the finish line again. » – Laia Sanz
It was another day to forget for Team Audi Sport at the Dakar after Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz both gave up their hopes of a podium finish yesterday. On Stage Seven the third Audi RS Q e-tron E2 – driven by Mattias Ekström – lost three hours due to mechanical issues.
« It’s so disappointing to be out of the race. Even with some small issues we were still fighting for the lead. If I had won this Dakar the plan was to then retire. To go out on a high. » – Stéphane Peterhansel
Tomorrow sees the bikes and quads rejoin the rally for Stage Eight. A 345km timed special stage will be the final business of this Dakar’s first week. Then comes the much anticipated Rest Day on Monday, followed by the final six stages of the 2023 Dakar Rally.
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Selected Overall Standings after Stage 7
T1 Car Class
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) TOYOTA 27:26:23
2. Henk Lategan (ZAF) TOYOTA +01:01:04
3. Lucas Moraes (BRA) TOYOTA +01:11:24
4. Giniel De Villiers (ZAF) TOYOTA +01:36:47
5. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) BRX +01:54:17…
21. Mattias Ekström (SWE) AUDI +04:49:41…
42. Kuba Przygoński (POL) MINI +07:08:01…
82. Laia Sanz (ESP) ASTARA +15:48:07…
T3 Lightweight Prototype
1. Guillaume De Mevius (BEL) OT3 31:43:12
2. AJ Jones (USA) CAN-AM +08:29
3. Seth Quintero (USA) CAN-AM +01:02:55
4. Chaleco López (CHL) CAN-AM +02:38:55
5. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) CAN-AM +02:56:45…
10. Ignacio Casale (CHL) YAMAHA +06:53:23…
26. Mitch Guthrie Jr. (USA) CAN-AM +24:41:22…
T4 SSV
1. Rokas Baciuška (LTU) CAN-AM 33:08:46
2. Marek Goczal (POL) CAN-AM +05:42
3. Eryk Goczal (POL) CAN-AM +06:23…
Bikes
1. Skyler Howes (USA) HUSQVARNA 26:31:52
2. Toby Price (AUS) KTM +01:55
3. Kevin Benavides (ARG) KTM +07:01…
8. Daniel Sanders (AUS) GASGAS +19:54…
11. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM +30:01…
13. Štefan Svitko (SVK) KTM +01:10:56…
41. Mohammed Balooshi (ARE) HUSQVARNA +06:51:17…
QUOTES
Rokas Baciuška: « A fast and interesting stage; many straights, dunes and a variety of roads. I like this kind of rally stage. 20 minutes from the end we had a mechanical issue but we kept cool nerves and moved forward. It feels good to be first, thanks everyone for your support. »
Seth Quintero: « We’ve got a lot of work to do in the overall so we didn’t want to mess anything up today for the marathon stage. The Can-Am did absolutely amazing and we made up some time on the top two guys. »
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: « Today’s stage had a little bit of everything so that was cool. We started near the back of the pack so we were able to chase some cars down. At the end we were having an enjoyable battle with Seth and Guillaume. »
Guillaume De Mevius: « It wasn’t the best day for us. It was quite rough at the beginning of the stage and we picked up a puncture. After that we took it easy, maybe a bit too much. Some of the guys behind us caught us up at the end of the stage. »
AJ Jones: « I haven’t had a look at the results yet, but I know it wasn’t a very good day for me. It doesn’t seem like many people had a great day today so we’ll see. I don’t think there’s too much for the mechanics to do, just nut and bolt a few things real quick. »
Chaleco López: « I’m very happy with the stage today and feel good for the second part of the marathon tomorrow. There’s no big problems to fix on the car. »
Ignacio Casale: « Today was a very good stage for us, we finished in fifth position. We were pushing with the top drivers all day. We had lots of fun on the stage and hopefully tomorrow will be the same. »
Sébastien Loeb: « The goal today was to not lose too much time to our rivals. Without the motorbikes in front we knew it would be very tricky to find the road. We know we lost some time but exactly how much I don’t know. We will see that later. »
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « This was really not an easy stage. We were really pushing a lot from the beginning. We opened all the way today and we lost a few minutes. We took care to put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow. »
Kuba Przygoński: « It was quite tricky for us today because after just 15km we lost our right-rear driveshaft. So for the rest of the stage we had three-wheel drive! There was some tough navigation towards the end and Armand did a great job. »
Laia Sanz: « It was another tough day. We expected this after the crash we suffered set us so far back in the starting order. We’re happy to have reached the finish line again. »
Stéphane Peterhansel: « It’s so disappointing to be out of the race. Even with some small issues we were still fighting for the lead. If I had won this Dakar the plan was to then retire. To go out on a high. »