With the Rest Day disappearing in the rearview mirror, Stage Nine brought the 2023 Dakar Rally to the edge of the Empty Quarter desert. It is these mighty sand dunes that will ultimately decide who gets the glory at this edition of the world’s most brutal rally. Let’s see how things stand after another punishing day at the Dakar…
The second week of this Dakar started with immediate changes to the overall car race podium. A tough opening week had seen Sébastien Loeb’s chances of a first Dakar win suffer a serious dent. However, the nine-time WRC winner and co-driver Fabian Lurquin are fighting back and a stage win today has seen their Prodrive BRX Hunter back on the podium, in third overall.
« It was a good stage for us, a good drive most of the way. » – Sébastien Loeb
There was also a move up the general classification today for rookie Lucas Moraes and co-driver Timo Gottschalk in their Toyota Hilux. Moraes’s first week at the Dakar couldn’t have gone much better, now his second week has started with him moving up to second overall.
« We were very patient today. We’re focused on the overall, that’s the big picture for us. » – Lucas Moraes
Still way out in front in the car race are defending champions Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel. Another faultless drive on Stage Nine saw Al-Attiyah stretch his advantage in the general classification to 1h 21m 57s.
« We must respect the route and give everything we have to overcome the remaining five stages. We have our lead because we kept our concentration throughout the first week. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
It was another dramatic day for Team Audi Sport and in particular the race crew of Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz. The duo’s Audi RS Q e-tron E2 flipped over on the dunes just five kilometres into Stage Nine and was unable to complete the day »s course.
It’s clear that Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price used the Rest Day to recharge his batteries. The two-time Dakar bike race winner went on the attack on Stage Nine and finished the day just THREE seconds off the overall lead.
« It was good to get a Rest Day in yesterday and be able to give it a good hit today. » – Toby Price
Joining Price on the overall podium is his KTM team-mate Kevin Benavides who is currently third. Benavides celebrated his 34th birthday during yesterday’s Rest Day. Now the Argentinian is just five minutes off the lead as he hunts a second Dakar bike race title.
« Today was a really hard stage with lots of difficult navigation. I tried to make a good pace while keeping the focus on finding the right way. » – Kevin Benavides
Daniel Sanders on his GASGAS and KTM’s Matthias Walkner were among the bikers struggling to stay on the right track on Stage Nine as the navigational challenges came thick and fast.
« It was so hard to find the way. This has been my worst day so far at this Dakar. » – Matthias Walkner
Stage Nine saw overall T3 race leader Guillaume De Mevius extend his lead at the front of the category. De Mevius and co-driver François Cazalet even got the chance to test their OT3 against a race truck on the route out of Riyadh.
« For a lot of the day we were fighting with a truck, there was so much dust as we kept passing each other. There’s five days left so we will count them down as we go. » – Guillaume De Mevius
There wasn’t much movement on the T3 leaderboard behind De Mevius on Stage Nine. The Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich crews of AJ Jones/Gustavo Gugelmin and Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz remain second and third respectively.
« Tomorrow we’re off to the dunes of the Empty Quarter and that sounds good to me. » – AJ Jones
Rokas Baciuška and co-driver Oriol Vidal of the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team still lead the T4 class after nine stages at this Dakar, their advantage now stands at over five minutes. The 23-year-old Lithuanian driver is another in the Dakar convoy who is looking forward to the dunes of the Empty Quarter.
« It was important to keep a healthy buggy, because tomorrow we are going to the Empty Quarter. It should be even more interesting there. » – Rokas Baciuška
Tomorrow’s Stage 10 features just 114km of timed racing, a very short stage when compared with the usual length of a Dakar day. However, almost the entire distance is on the dunes of the Empty Quarter desert where every metre is littered with danger.
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Selected Overall Standings after Stage 9
T1 Car Class
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) TOYOTA 34:19:20
2. Lucas Moraes (BRA) TOYOTA +01:21:57
3. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) BRX +01:43:08…
5. Giniel De Villiers (ZAF) TOYOTA +02:04:17…
23. Mattias Ekström (SWE) AUDI +07:01:11…
25. Kuba Przygoński (POL) MINI +07:15:34…
34. Laia Sanz (ESP) ASTARA +16:33:04…
T3 Lightweight Prototype
1. Guillaume De Mevius (BEL) OT3 39:41:11
2. AJ Jones (USA) CAN-AM +12:43
3. Seth Quintero (USA) CAN-AM +01:13:12
4. Chaleco López (CHL) CAN-AM +02:46:24
5. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) CAN-AM +03:19:13…
8. Ignacio Casale (CHL) YAMAHA +07:34:05…
26. Mitch Guthrie Jr. (USA) MCE5 +24:35:13…
T4 SSV
1. Rokas Baciuška (LTU) CAN-AM 41:16:37
2. Eryk Goczal (POL) CAN-AM +05:02
3. Gerard Farres Guell (ESP) CAN-AM +09:17…
Bikes
1. Skyler Howes (USA) HUSQVARNA 33:55:57
2. Toby Price (AUS) KTM +00:03
3. Kevin Benavides (ARG) KTM +05:09…
9. Daniel Sanders (AUS) GASGAS +23:47…
11. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM +44:36…
13. Štefan Svitko (SVK) KTM +01:18:06…
38. Mohammed Balooshi (ARE) HUSQVARNA +08:16:37…
QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « We opened all the way today so we had to take a lot of care. I’m happy to be here at the finish line of the stage. We still must respect the route and give everything we have to overcome the remaining five stages. We have our lead because we kept our concentration throughout the first week. »
Lucas Moraes: « The Dakar never stops surprising us. Right at the beginning we saw Carlos had rolled and we also saw Henk with some problems. We decided that we would just keep things cool. We were very patient today and let some cars go. We’re focused on the overall, that’s the big picture for us. »
Sébastien Loeb: « It was a good stage for us, a good drive most of the way. We got a little bit lost in some places. Navigation was tough, especially where the motorbikes hadn’t left many lines. At times we had to turn around and search for the good way. But it was not just us, it was complicated for everyone. »
Kuba Przygoński: « The stage today was quite tricky, but also nice. It was stony in the beginning and then there were dunes that were really hard to pass because there were a lot of drops. And then the last part was really fast. Also the navigation was tough in the middle. »
Giniel De Villiers: « There were some tricky dunes at the beginning with some drops that you really couldn’t see. After that there was lots of water with some scary crossings. On one of the crossings we really took our time because it would have been easy to get stuck there. Towards the end it was quite fast. »
Mattias Ekström: « It was sad to see Carlos stopped. We stopped there to have a chat with him. We did quite a good job on the dunes, but like everybody we got lost in one area. It was a solid day and the car was working fine. »
Laia Sanz: « It was one of the first tranquil stages for us. It was more or less a good day for us. Even in the tricky navigation place we didn’t get too lost. Then in the last part I broke the front window so I couldn’t see very well. Despite this it was still a more relaxed day for us. »
Toby Price: « It looks like a bunch of guys got lost just before the refuel. I navigated through that spot really good. We tried to push as much as we could today. It was good to get a Rest Day in yesterday and be able to give it a good hit today. »
Kevin Benavides: « Today was a really hard stage with lots of difficult navigation. I tried to make a good pace while keeping the focus on finding the right way. I pushed as much as I could and I think I’ve finished pretty well for today. »
Daniel Sanders: « Things started well, but then we reached a really tricky waypoint. There were absolutely no tracks to follow, I guess because of the rain. When we got to the refuel we could see that our pack had lost a lot of time. »
Matthias Walkner: « I tried to give it my all and push a lot, but I made a mistake with the navigation and it cost me a lot of time. It was a bad day for me. It was so hard to find the way. This has been my worst day so far at this Dakar. »
Guillaume De Mevius: « It was a good day for us. We lost some time on one navigation point, but not so much. For a lot of the day we were fighting with a truck, there was so much dust as we kept passing each other. There’s five days left so we will count them down as we go. »
Cristina Gutiérrez: « The car was stuck in safe mode for about 40km, we couldn’t go any faster than 30kph. Afterwards we solved the problem and we spent the rest of the stage trying to get back some of the time we had lost. »
AJ Jones: « Today was alright, but not our best day. We had a couple of technical issues with how the car was setup. It’s a little bit frustrating, but we’re here at the finish line. Tomorrow we’re off to the dunes of the Empty Quarter and that sounds good to me. »
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: « In the beginning it was technical and tricky, there was a lot of water. There was one tough waypoint to find, lots of people were slipping up there. We were the first SSV to find it and we really hit our marks there. »
Rokas Baciuška: « It was important to keep a healthy buggy, because tomorrow we are going to the Empty Quarter, it should be even more interesting there. We were second on today’s stage, but in the overall standings we’re still in the lead. »