Saturday saw Kevin Benavides take a big chunk out of Toby Price’s bike lead as Rokas Baciuška held on to his T4 lead and Sébastien Loeb claimed his sixth 2023 Dakar Rally win in a row.
Stage 13 : Shaybah – Al-Hofuf – Distance – Total/Special: 675.6km/154km
– Just one stage stands between the 2023 convoy and the finish where 5,000 racing kilometres will have been clocked across treacherous terrain – including the Empty Quarter sand dunes – with the leading bike duo separated by 12 seconds ahead of the final Al-Hofuf to Dammam stage.
– Australian Price narrowly leads his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Benavides with the Argentine’s Stage 13 victory seeing him cut 2m28s from the lead with American Skyler Howes still lurking in third place 1m31s behind. Price, 35, said: « Today I caught the guys around 90km and just thought to myself, ‘If I want to win this race, I need to be at the front and try and capture that bonus a little bit’. I’m happy. »
– Loeb earned his sixth stage win in a row to consolidate second and, while outright victory maybe beyond the BRX Hunter driver, he has got useful World Rally-Raid Championship car points behind Nasser Al-Attiyah while Lucas Moraes remains third. Moraes, 31, said: « It was hard to see because of the sun. Timo (Gottschalk) did a great job. »
– In T3, Mitch Guthrie Jr. and co-driver Kellon Walch grabbed their fifth stage win in their T3-M by MCE5 machine with their Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich team-mates AJ Jones/Gustavo Gugelmin and Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz staying in first and second.
– There was movement further back in T3 as Spaniard Cristina Gutiérrez overtook Chilean Chaleco López to move 34 seconds ahead into fourth, while their fellow Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team driver Baciuška saw his T4 lead cut to 3m24s by Pole Erik Goczal with one stage remaining.
– Sunday’s final Stage 14 sees a 136km dash along the coastline of the Arabian Gulf between Al-Hofuf and Dammam with plenty of opportunity for race drama before the big post-race party on the seafront podium.
The 2023 Dakar Rally is located in Saudi Arabia and runs from December 31, 2022 – January 15, 2023.